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THE CHILDREN’S HEROES SERIES 
Edited by John Lang 


THE STORY OF 

DAVID LIVINGSTONE 
























































































































DAVID LIVINGSTONE 


THE STORY OF 

DAVID 

LIVINGSTONE 



LONDON: T. C. & E. C. JACK 
NEW YORK : E. P. DUTTON & CO. 



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Printed by Ballantyne, Hanson <5^ Co. 
At the Ballantyne Press 


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PROEM 

T% little Ardale and all his merry kind 


LIGHTS OF LIFE 

THE dew stands on the dormer panes, 
The cross November sun 

Has sent the daylight off to bed 
Before the night’s begun ; 

The dull red embers, half aglow, 

Are sulking in the grate, 

And let the lonely shadows grow 
All dark and desolate ; 

Shadows of things that go awry, 

Or waver to and fro; 

Shadows of playthings bought so dear 
And broken long ago ; 

Shadows of friends who played till mirth 
Grew sad and went in pain: — 

Where is the merry light that makes 
Old shadows smile again? 

Hark! little sandals softly beat 
Upon the attic stair, 

And truant mischief breathless creeps 
With whispered, “Is he there?” 


vi 


PROEM 


A story? ’Tis a fateful task 
To fill the open brow: 

Who knows what plans of God depend 
On all it garners now? 

Where shall we lead the clambering limbs, 
The big blue fearless eyes? 

Down to the gold mine’s narrowing drift, 

Or to the widening skies 

Where, in the space around the stars, 

Are countless worlds astray, 

Whose peoples call for pioneers 
To find the safer way ? 

Ay, let us tell the generous tale 
Of giants real and bold, 

Who grew so great they would not stoop 
To gather fame and gold ; 

But hurled the mountains from our path. 

And drained our quagmires dry, 

And held our foes at bay the while 
They bore our weaklings by ; 

Giants by whose unselfish toil 
Our land was first begun, 

Where good and useful men and maids 
Make merry as they run. 

Ah, may you miss the dismal tracks 
That aimless feet have trod, 

And follow where our pioneers 
Make open ways to God. 

VAUTIER GOLDING. 


CONTENTS 


Chapter 

I. Early Life .... 


Page 

II. 

First Years in Africa 

. 

• 13 

III. 

Beyond the Kalahari Desert 

. 

26 

IV. 

From Coast to Coast 

. 

• 38 

V. 

The Zambesi Expedition. 

. 

• 50 

VI. 

The Upper Shire and Lake 

Nyassa 

. 62 

VII. 

Foiled by the Slavers 

. 

• 73 

VIII. 

In the Heart of Africa . 

. . 

. 84 

IX. 

A Death-blow to Slavery 

. 

. 96 

X. 

The Last Journey . 

. 

. 106 


LIST OF PICTURES 

Portrait of Livingstone .... Frontispiece 

The brute charged full tilt at his 

waggon To face page 20 

The lion began to crunch the bone of 

his arm ,, 24 

The Victoria Falls „ ,, 46 

A long file of slaves ,, ,, 64 

They burnt the village . . . . „ „ 76 

Often he had to wade through marshes 

up to the waist „ 88 

They saw him dead on his knees . . „ „ 112 


viii 



English Miles 

» 1 1 1 1 


O 50 'OO 200 300 400 500 












THE STORY OF 

DAVID LIVINGSTONE 

CHAPTER I 


EARLY LIFE 



l HE story of this brave and gentle hero, 


A and of his noble toil for the sake of 
other men, is truly a tale of more than 
ordinary wonder. 

Few men’s lives can better show how 
even the poorest and weakest can gain for 
themselves the power to do great things, 
and to make the harder paths of life more 
easy for those who follow. For David 
Livingstone began life in a workman’s 
cottage, without knowledge or skill, and 
without money to obtain them. Yet, when 


2 


DAVID LIVINGSTONE 


he died, the world was so full of praise 
and wonder at his work that his body was 
brought from Africa to rest in Westminster 
Abbey among the graves of his country’s 
greatest men. He had grown to be a 
great pioneer, an explorer, a scientist, a 
doctor, a missioner, and a freer of slaves. 

In thirty years he travelled 29,000 miles, 
through the wild and unknown parts of 
Africa, exploring rivers, lakes, plains, 
forests, and mountains. He found out 
places where white settlers might make 
farms and plantations in health and safety. 
He sought for paths and waterways by 
which they might bring their cotton, grain, 
coffee, sugar, ivory, and skins to the sea- 
ports for sale. Among the black tribes 
he made many friends, doctored their sick, 
and lost no chance of showing them how 
to do their duty to God and make better 
use of their lives. 

But his last and greatest work was to 
follow up the slave - hunters, and make 
known in England all the brutal and wicked 


EARLY LIFE 3 

horrors of the slave-trade. This was the 
work that wore him to death, but his noble 
self-sacrifice roused his countrymen to take 
possession of Central Africa and put an end 
to slavery. And if we look into his life, we 
shall find that the power to do all this 
came little by little, and day by day, from 
one simple source, namely, his earnest and 
unselfish desire to show his love for God 
by doing good to men. He was always 
trying to help and befriend others, and this 
made other men befriend him and give him 
the means of carrying on his work. 

Livingstone’s forefathers were High- 
landers, and lived in the wild and lonely 
island of Ulva, till hard times drove the 
family to settle in the village of Blantyre, 
among the Lanarkshire cotton-mills, where 
work was more plentiful. 

Here David was born in the year 1813. 
His father, Neil Livingstone, an honest, 
steady, and hard - working man, took a 
great interest in all that was going on in 
the world. He was a great reader in 


DAVID LIVINGSTONE 


4 

many subjects, but was especially fond of 
books on missionary work. From him 
David inherited his Highland pluck and 
hardihood, and also his thirst for every 
kind of knowledge. 

His mother, Agnes Hunter, came of an 
old family which, in the days of the Cove- 
nanter persecution, had been driven from 
home to the hills, and had risked torture 
and death rather than do what they believed 
to be wrong. She gave him her gentle 
and kindly nature, and taught him to be 
neat, orderly, and exact. From her tender 
but firm upbringing also, he gained the 
brave grip of truth, honour, and justice 
that makes men do and dare all things 
for duty’s sake. 

This was his heritage from his parents, 
and it proved of more value to him than all 
the money on earth. 

At the village school of Blantyre David 
soon learnt to read and write. So poor, 
however, were his parents, that they had to 
take him away from his lessons at the early 


EARLY LIFE 


5 

age of ten, and set him to work in a cotton- 
mill. Summer and winter, wet or fine, he 
had to appear at the factory at six in the 
morning, and stay there till eight at night, 
with short spaces allowed him for meals. 
Fourteen hours a day at the mill might 
well have broken his pluck and ruined his 
health, as, indeed, happened to many poor 
children, but David was made of harder 
stuff. He was bent on getting knowledge 
by some means or other. Very quickly he 
learnt to work the machine called the 
“spinning jenny,” and was then raised to 
be a spinner with a small wage. 

The first half-crown of his earning he 
took home, and slipped it into his mother’s 
lap. To him it was a small fortune, and 
would have bought him many coveted 
things, but he thought of his mother’s 
wants before his own. Later on, as he 
earned more wage, he bought himself books, 
and these he used to fix on the “jenny,” 
snatching a few lines from them whenever 
he could spare an eye from his work. His 


6 


DAVID LIVINGSTONE 


hard and tiring day at the mill was long 
enough for any one, but in spite of this he 
joined night classes and sat up reading till 
sometimes his mother took away his books 
and drove him to bed. 

His holidays were spent in ranging over 
the countryside with his brothers and sisters, 
and here too nothing escaped his keen eye 
and love of knowledge. Every animal, bird, 
insect, and plant was an interest to him, 
and he studied them closely, trying to find 
out all he could about their forms and 
habits. And while he thus began to learn 
the wonderful science of nature, he never 
dreamt that one day in the wilds of Africa 
he would use his knowledge in digging 
roots for his supper, or in avoiding vicious 
beasts and poisonous snakes. 

As the years went on he grew restless, 
and was sometimes not very happy, without 
quite knowing why. In reality his mind 
was growing very fast, and wanted bigger 
and better work than watching the mill- 
wheels. Spinning cotton was useful enough 


EARLY LIFE 


7 

in its way, but he wanted to do for man- 
kind something greater and more lasting 
than that. 

His father had many books and papers 
on mission work in China and India, and 
as David read of the wonderful beauty 
of these countries, and the ignorance and 
cruelty of their peoples, he sometimes 
thought he would like to be a missionary. 
The idea returned to him again and again, 
but he kept doubting whether he was the 
right person for the work. One day, how- 
ever, when he was twenty years old, he 
happened to read a booklet that told such 
sad tales about the poor of China that his 
mind was troubled and stirred. So heavily 
did the story of human suffering and wrong 
weigh upon him that he began to take his 
country walks alone, in order to think the 
matter over undisturbed. Every morning 
he asked himself if he could do nothing 
to help, and every night he went to bed 
with the question still unanswered. 

But at last there came an evening when 

B 


8 


DAVID LIVINGSTONE 


he found an answer that made his way 
quite clear. He watched the sunset lights 
creep off the hills and clouds and die away 
in the growing starlight. He heard the 
thrush, all grateful for the joy of life, sing 
out its evensong till the calm hush of night 
stole over the tired world. The peace and 
beauty of it all seemed to make him sadder 
than ever. In such a lovely world, where 
there was room for all, food for all, and 
joy enough for all, it seemed to him so 
utterly strange that men could ever even 
want to cheat, rob, bully, and kill each 
other, and grab for themselves more than 
they could possibly use. The depth of his 
own sadness made him remember how once, 
in the stillness of the sunset hour, Jesus 
of Nazareth had wandered into an olive 
grove, and there had wept in bitter grief 
over the troubles of men. 

Then suddenly the idea flashed into his 
mind that at least he could try and imitate 
the life of Christ as far as lay in his power. 
In a moment his mind was made up. He 


EARLY LIFE 


9 

walked home with a brisk step and light 
heart, and told his parents that he was 
going to college at Glasgow to learn to be 
a doctor; and then he would go out to 
the far East to help the sick, and to tell 
men how they could make the world better 
and happier by imitating the life of Christ. 

David lost no time in carrying out his 
plan, and at once began to put by all he 
could from his earnings at the cotton-mill. 
Want of money was his chief difficulty. 
Indeed, when at last he went up to Glas- 
gow, he and his father walked all the way, 
and then had to trudge the streets till 
they found a lodging for David that cost 
no more than two shillings a week. 

It was a hard struggle for young Living- 
stone, but still, by spending his savings very 
carefully, he managed to keep at his studies 
for a whole winter. Then he was forced 
to go back to the cotton-mills in order to 
save more money to pay for another winter’s 
training. He was a quick and thorough 
learner, and at once it became quite clear 


10 DAVID LIVINGSTONE 

to those who taught him that he would 
soon be fit for the life he had chosen. 

Livingstone did not want to be ordained 
a regular missionary and take the title of 
“Reverend” before his name, for he did 
not wish to teach the special creed and 
services of any one particular set of Chris- 
tians. His own idea was to go among 
the natives as a plain and simple man, 
trying every hour and minute of his daily 
life to do as Christ had done; and in this 
way he hoped to win their love and re- 
spect, and to lead them towards a nobler 
life of duty to God and man. But his 
family and friends so strongly advised him 
to be made a missionary in the usual way 
that he yielded to their wishes, and offered 
himself to the London Missionary Society. 
His offer was accepted, and after a short 
examination in London before the gover- 
nors of the Society, he was sent to Ongar, 
in Essex, for a three months’ training 
among the other missionary students. 

Here, with his usual care and thorough- 


EARLY LIFE 


II 


ness, he quickly learnt all that was set 
before him, but there was one thing he 
never could master : do what he would, he 
never could learn to preach. Once he was 
sent to a neighbouring parish with a most 
carefully prepared sermon; but he could 
get no further than the text, and so with 
a hasty apology he fled from the pulpit. 
Probably that was the only time in his life 
that he ran away from anything, but the 
event nearly ended his career. 

His failure in preaching vexed the soul of 
his pastor so much, that Livingstone was 
sent back to the governors at the end of 
the three months with a bad report of his 
powers as a missionary. On the strength of 
this report he was nearly sent away as use- 
less. One of the governors, however, who 
was wiser than his fellows, saw that Living- 
stone could both think well and do well, 
although he could not talk well. He ac- 
cordingly took the young student’s part, 
and insisted that he should have a further 
trial at Ongar. The result of this timely 


12 DAVID LIVINGSTONE 

aid was that, after three more months of 
study, no one doubted Livingstone’s fit- 
ness, and so in the year 1840 he was 
formally ordained a missionary. 

Meanwhile, war had broken out in 
China, and no one could go there in 
safety. This was a disappointment to 
Livingstone, but while waiting for peace 
he would not be idle, so he went on with 
his medical studies at London, and also 
took his degree as a physician and 
surgeon at Glasgow. But the war still 
dragged on, and rather than waste any 
time, he decided to go to Africa ; and 
accordingly, on 8th December 1840, he set 
sail for that vast and unknown continent, 
into which he was one day to bring new 
light, new hope, and new freedom. 


CHAPTER II 
FIRST YEARS IN AFRICA 
HE sea voyage out to the Cape was 



* a new life to Livingstone, and he 
made the most of it. With his usual 
determination to know all about every- 
thing, he made friends with the ship’s 
captain, and soon began to learn how to 
manage the ship. 

The captain taught him how to use a sex- 
tant and chronometer, two most important 
instruments, by whose help voyagers can tell 
exactly how far they are to the north or 
south, to the east or west. To “take an 
observation,” as it is called, is no easy 
matter; but by hard and steady practice 
Livingstone in time became able to find out 
the ship’s exact position and to mark it down 


*3 


14 DAVID LIVINGSTONE 

neatly on the chart. And often in after life 
the captain’s kindly teaching came to his 
aid when he lost his way in the wilds, or 
when he marked some new discovery on 
the map. 

In his spare half - hours Livingstone 
would enjoy the many delights and won- 
ders of the southern sea. He watched 
the dazzling little flying-fish dart like tiny 
rainbows from beneath the bows, glimmer 
over the water, and flash into the white 
comb of a wave. The dolphins, too, like 
clowns of the sea, amused him with their 
antics as they leapt and turned somersaults 
over the waves or sportively raced, two 
or three abreast, close ahead of the cut- 
water. Occasionally a monster sperm- 
whale would rise to the surface like a 
floating islet, spout his double fountain 
into the air, and plunge down again into 
his home. Sometimes, also, a grim and 
wicked-looking shark would prowl about 
the ship’s wake in the greedy hope of 
human prey. 


FIRST YEARS IN AFRICA 15 

When at last the long voyage was over 
and Livingstone landed at Cape Town, he 
found more sights and wonders awaiting 
him ; but he had not been very long 
ashore before he also found a very great 
disappointment. He had quite supposed 
that all missionaries were of course doing 
their best to help forward the work 
among the natives, and it was an un- 
pleasant surprise to him when he saw 
that, in spite of the noble efforts of many 
good men, mission work in South Africa 
was almost at a standstill. 

From want of more careful planning, 
the mission stations were mostly clustered 
around the Cape instead of being dotted 
about far into the continent, where black 
men were much more numerous. This 
was a great waste of strength and time, 
for hard - working missionaries had not 
enough to do, while the idlers could so 
easily neglect their duty for the plea- 
sures and amusements of white society. 

Amongst the missionaries there was much 


16 DAVID LIVINGSTONE 

disagreement and petty jealousy over their 
work, and many were full of complaint 
about trifling matters, while a few, but 
only a few, led such unworthy and con- 
temptible lives that they often brought 
the good fame of mission work into bad 
report. 

Livingstone soon made up his mind that 
the only remedy lay in two new plans : first, 
to make mission stations far up in the 
thickly - peopled native districts and win 
over the most powerful chiefs ; next, to 
make a training college whence native 
teachers could afterwards be sent to edu- 
cate the many tribes. It was the first of 
these plans that decided the course of his 
after life, for he now saw that he might do 
better service to his cause by pioneering 
Central Africa than by settling down in 
comfort to preach. 

After a short stay at the Cape, Living- 
stone was sent into Bechuanaland to Kuru- 
man, the most northern of all the mission 
settlements in South Africa. This station 


FIRST YEARS IN AFRICA 17 

was worked by a good and capable mission- 
ary, Dr. Moffat, who was then away in 
England, and Livingstone had been ordered 
to await his return. Livingstone, however, 
did not mean to be idle, so he decided to 
spend the time in exploring the almost un- 
known country to the north of the station. 

Accordingly he made a number of journeys 
in many directions, travelling about from 
tribe to tribe until he had thoroughly learnt 
the nature and resources of the country, 
and also the language and character of the 
natives. 

On the first of these journeys Livingstone 
had an object-lesson in slavery that set his 
noble heart aching for the freedom of Africa. 
One day when he had outspanned his oxen 
for rest and food, he suddenly noticed that 
a young native girl had crept into camp, 
and was hiding under his waggon. He 
gave her some food, and in answer to his 
questions she told him her story. She and 
her sister had been left orphans, and they 
had lived happily together till the latter 


18 DAVID LIVINGSTONE 

died. Then she was taken by another 
family, who kept her, not out of kindness, 
but with the cruel intention of selling her 
to some chief as a slave wife. On learning 
what was in store for her she ran away, 
meaning to trudge behind the waggon all 
the way to Kuruman, where she had friends. 

While thus telling her tale, her face sud- 
denly fell with fear, and she burst into' tears. 
Livingstone looked up and saw that a 
native, armed with a rifle, had come to 
claim the poor child and take her back to 
slavery. 

Livingstone could not bear the thought 
of giving her up, but he was at his wits’ 
end to know the best way of saving her, 
till one of his native teachers, named 
Pomari, came to the rescue. The girl was 
attractive enough, with her bright eyes, 
white teeth, and soft, healthy skin, and her 
captors had loaded her in savage fashion 
with strings of beads. Pomari stripped the 
beads off the girl, and gave them to the 
man, who, after a little persuasion, took 


FIRST YEARS IN AFRICA 19 

the bribe and went his way. Livingstone 
took care to keep the girl out of sight till 
they were safe out of the district. 

Many other adventures befell the mis- 
sionary on his travels; for wild animals, 
drought, fever, cattle - sickness, and the 
deadly tsetse-fly, whose bite kills oxen and 
horses in a few hours, always bring risk 
and excitement to an African journey. Once, 
when he was “ trekking” several hundred 
miles through Bechuanaland in an ox- 
waggon, the fatal cattle-sickness fell like a 
plague upon his oxen and killed them all. 

There was nothing to be done but to de- 
sert the waggon and tramp home. Living- 
stone’s native servants were afraid that 
their master would never be able to do it. 
One of them pointed to his trousers and 
said, half in anxiety, half in scorn, that he 
was not really strong enough, and only put 
his legs into those bags to make them look 
stout. Livingstone, however, proved their 
fears groundless, and won their respect by 
walking them nearly to a standstill. 


20 DAVID LIVINGSTONE 

Once, too, he travelled 400 miles on ox- 
back, and found it awkward and uneasy 
work to keep his seat and avoid the sweep 
of the poor beast’s horns as it shook off 
the flies that clustered round its eyes and 
nostrils. During this journey he fell down 
and broke his finger, and set the bone with 
his other hand. Not long after, a lion sprang 
out of the bush and raided their camp. 
Livingstone frightened the animal away by 
firing his revolver, but the kick of the weapon 
broke his finger anew. 

Another time he had to fly for his life 
and hide from an angry rhinoceros which 
he had disturbed while she was feeding her 
calf. Upon missing him, the vicious brute 
charged full tilt at his waggon, and with 
the deadly upward stroke of her horn (a 
stroke which has been known to kill an 
elephant), splintered the wheel like match- 
wood. 

All this while Livingstone was making 
friends of the tribes along his track. His 
manly fearlessness, his good humour and 



The brute charged full tilt at his waggon 







FIRST YEARS IN AFRICA 21 

keen sympathy, his kindly eyes full of 
honesty and truth, soon showed the natives 
that there was nothing to fear from him. 
His medical skill got him the fame of a 
wizard, and black patients from far and near 
thronged his waggon to be cured of their 
ills, while some spread the report that he 
had brought dead men back to life. 

Apart from this, he had a most wonder- 
ful gift of finding his way into the hearts 
of men ; and though the natives could not 
understand the reason of his coming, yet 
they soon saw that he had not come, like 
some of the Transvaal Boers, to shoot 
them down, plunder their cattle, and carry 
off their children to a life of unpaid labour. 

One chief, Bubd, was in difficulty for 
want of water for his crops. Every tribe 
had a sorcerer, who was supposed to have 
the power of bringing down rain when 
required; but Bube’s rainmaker had failed 
to supply him. Livingstone, however, taught 
them a surer way than sorcery, for he in- 
duced the whole tribe to turn out and dig 


22 DAVID LIVINGSTONE 

a ditch from the river to their village, and 
by thus saving them from famine he won 
their love and respect. Bubd’s faith in 
witchcraft afterwards cost him his life. His 
sorcerer vowed he could take the devil 'out 
of some gunpowder by the use of certain 
burning roots. Poor Bubd innocently went 
to watch the performance, and both were 
blown out of existence. 

At last, after long waiting, Livingstone 
got leave from the governors to start a 
new mission - station, and this he did with 
the help of a brother missionary at Ma- 
botsa, a place 250 miles north of Kuruman. 
Here Livingstone had to build a house for 
himself at his own expense, and as his 
income was only .£100 a year, he built it 
with his own hands. 

His work, however, was delayed by a 
misadventure that left him with a weak 
arm for all his days. A lion one day fell 
upon a flock of sheep near the village and 
began to kill them right and left. Living- 
stone went out for a little while to en- 


FIRST YEARS IN AFRICA 23 

courage the natives to surround it. The 
lion, however, broke away from its pur- 
suers, and suddenly sprang out of the bush 
upon Livingstone: then, pinning him down 
with a paw on his head, it began to crunch 
the bone of his arm. A faithful follower, 
Mebalwe, diverted the beast from his 
master, and was himself attacked, but was 
saved by the lion falling dead of its 
wounds. 

As soon as his arm was well enough, 
Livingstone finished his house, and then he 
brought home Mary Moffat from Kuruman 
to be his wife. The two were together so 
successful in their work that the jealousy 
of some of their fellow - missionaries was 
aroused, and Livingstone was accused of 
taking more than his share of credit so 
as to gain the favour of the governors in 
London. 

Rather than live as a source of envy to 

a fellow- worker, Livingstone left Mabotsa, 

and went to all the labour and expense of 

building a new mission-house at Chonuane, 

c 


24 DAVID LIVINGSTONE 

40 miles farther north, in the country of a 
chief called Sechele. Water, however, was 
so scarce at Chonuane that Livingstone per- 
suaded Sechdld’s people to move with him 
still farther north, to Kolobeng. Here, for 
the third time, he built himself a house, 
but he did not dwell there for many years. 
His great mind ran continually upon the 
welfare of Africa, and he was losing faith 
in the missionary methods that were then 
practised. 

He now believed the best plan would be 
for Christian emigrants to come and teach 
the natives useful arts and industries, and 
to show them by example how to lead 
better lives. 

But where was he to make his first little 
colony? East of Kolobeng lay the Trans- 
vaal, and the Boers, who hated him for 
his efforts against slavery, kept sending 
him threatening messages. North and west 
of him was the dry and trackless Kalahari 
Desert. He had heard native rumours 
about a large lake beyond the desert. 



The lion began to crunch the bone of his arm 


c 







FIRST YEARS IN AFRICA 25 

There he might find a place suitable for 
his purpose ; but he could not afford to pay 
for the waggons, cattle, native servants, and 
stores necessary for the journey across the 
desert. House-building had already cost 
him beyond his means. What was he to do? 

The matter was settled for him by 
the generosity of an English gentleman, 
William Cotton Oswell, who had made 
several hunting trips in South Africa after 
big game, and had often been helped by 
Livingstone’s knowledge of the country and 
language. Noble, fearless, and unselfish 
himself, Oswell had been from the first 
drawn into fast friendship with Living- 
stone ; and now he offered to pay the 
cost of the expedition. Livingstone was 
overjoyed at his goodness, and on May 
27, 1849, the expedition left Kolobeng. 
They had with them eighty oxen, twenty 
horses, and about twenty-five natives, and 
the fact that a waggon and span of oxen 
costs about .£125 will give some idea of 
Oswell’s generosity. 


CHAPTER III 

BEYOND THE KALAHARI DESERT 

A GLANCE at the maps of Africa pub- 
***■ lished before the year 1850 will show 
how little was known about the middle of 
the continent. All round the coast and a 
few hundred miles up the rivers there 
were plenty of names, but the centre was 
left almost blank. Most people supposed 
that the Great Sahara Desert in the north 
stretched down to the Kalahari Desert in 
the south. Cleverer men, however, thought 
of the enormous flow of water in the Nile, 
Congo, and Zambesi, and felt sure that 
somewhere there must be a land of streams, 
forests, and hills, vast enough to feed such 
mighty rivers. 

In the exciting hope of pioneering this 

26 


BEYOND KALAHARI DESERT 27 

new land, and in the noble desire of bring- 
ing a better way of life to its peoples, 
Oswell and Livingstone dared the hardship 
and danger of the Kalahari. Oswell was to 
manage the trek, and the hard and tiring 
task of shooting enough game for the 
camp pot depended upon his quick eye, 
cool head, and steady hand. Livingstone 
was to be interpreter and scientific ob- 
server, while the party relied upon his 
wonderful power of gaining the goodwill of 
the natives. 

They started from Kolobeng in a north- 
easterly direction, and for the first 120 
miles their track lay through country they 
had passed before. Then they struck north 
towards the desert, and from this point 
they knew nothing of the country before 
them. One of the natives with them had 
crossed many years ago, and thought he 
could remember his route, but his memory 
proved very hazy. 

With this man as guide, they came to 
the wells of Serotli, on the edge of the 


28 DAVID LIVINGSTONE 

desert, and found that the place was just 
a dip in the sand, surrounded by low scrub 
and a few stunted trees. In the dip, how- 
ever, were several little hollows, as though 
a rhinoceros had been rolling in the 
sand ; and in one of these hollows lay 
about a quart of water. 

Oswell at once set the party to work 
with spades and land turtle - shells to 
deepen the holes, but hard toil till nightfall 
only brought enough water to give the 
horses a mouthful or two each. Their 
guide told them that this was their last 
chance of water for 70 miles, so Oswell sent 
the oxen back to their last watering-place. 
Bellowing and moaning with disappoint- 
ment and distress, the poor beasts crawled 
back 25 miles, and at last found relief from 
the terrible thirst they had suffered for 
ninety-six hours. 

Meanwhile four of the Serotli pits were 
dug out to the depth of 8 feet, and water 
trickled into them so plentifully that 
Oswell sent for the oxen. On their 


BEYOND KALAHARI DESERT 29 

arrival they were at once watered, in- 
spanned, and headed across the desert. 
The heat was very great, and the wheels 
sank so deep into the loose sand that 
their utmost efforts only dragged the 
waggons 6 miles before sundown. On the 
following day they covered 19 miles with- 
out water. On the third day again these 
gallant beasts struggled 19 miles through 
the heavy sand in the smiting heat with- 
out a drop to drink. 

That night was a bad one for the 
leaders of the expedition. They had now 
come 44 miles from Serotli at a rate of 
only 2 miles an hour, and the guide told 
them they were still 30 miles from the next 
water, which was at a place called Moko- 
konyani by the bushmen of the desert. 

The oxen were spent with toil and 
thirst, and all night lay moaning out to 
their masters a piteous appeal for drink. 
No one knew for certain what lay before 
them, or whether they were in the right 
direction. Failure seemed more than likely. 


30 DAVID LIVINGSTONE 

but Oswell and Livingstone were not the 
men to know despair. At the first sign of 
daybreak they sent the horses forward with 
the guide to try and find Mokokonyani. 
With the horses safe, the men could cover 
the ground in safety, and hunt for food on 
the way. 

Oswell and Livingstone intended to 
follow with the waggons as long as the 
oxen could hold out ; then they would 
loose the oxen on the trail of the horses 
in the hope that, without their burdens, 
they would mostly reach water alive. Half 
an hour after starting, the waggons passed 
through a belt of scrub, and came suddenly 
upon the horses at a dead halt. “ Is it 
water?” was on every lip. No such luck 
was in store for them: the guide had lost 
his way. 

Soon the weary oxen staggered in dis- 
tress, and were outspanned to rest while 
the leaders took counsel for the future. 
Meanwhile the natives scattered through 
the scrub in a forlorn hope of finding 


BEYOND KALAHARI DESERT 31 

water. Presently one of them heard the 
harsh croaking of a frog. No sweet 
music could fall softer on his ear, for 
where there is a frog there is always 
water close by. He ran back, and reported 
the discovery of a patch of marsh. Once 
more the jaded oxen were inspanned. The 
sense of water in the air seemed to revive 
them, and in two brisk miles they reached 
relief. 

For the present, at all events, the ex- 
pedition was saved. And it was well for 
them that they came upon the marsh, 
for it took them four more days to reach 
Mokokonyani, though on the first and 
third days they were luckily able to find 
water by digging. It turned out that they 
were in the bed of a “sand river” called 
the Mokokoong by the bushmen. Deep 
down below their feet a constant flow of 
water crept at a snail’s pace through the 
sand. The course of the stream could be 
roughly traced like the long-dried bed of 
an ancient river. Sometimes it lay be- 


32 DAVID LIVINGSTONE 

tween ridges of naked limestone or banks 
of sand ; sometimes it was lost in the 
level plain. In a very few places there 
were sand - holes deep enough to reach 
the stream, and here patches of marsh 
formed, or water showed in plenty, as at 
Mokokonyani. Otherwise there was no 
sign of water, though the bushmen get 
enough to quench their thirst by sucking 
through a long reed thrust down into the 
sand. 

The party now tried to follow the sand 
river, but soon lost it for two waterless 
days. Then they found and followed it 
once more, until the underground stream 
disappeared in a marsh. At this point 
their guide again failed them, and they 
went many miles out of their course with- 
out water for three days. Here again 
fortune favoured them, for Oswell’s eagle 
eye spied a bushwoman lurking in the 
thick scrub. He gave chase and captured 
her, and for a few beads she led them to 
a water-hole. 


BEYOND KALAHARI DESERT 33 

And now from a hillock they could see 
new and fertile country in the distance, 
with thick smoke rising beyond. It must 
be reeds burning on the shore of the great 
lake, they thought, and so pushed onward. 

In a few more days they suddenly burst 
through the thick bush upon a wide and 
deep river, and from the natives on its 
banks they learnt that this was the Zouga, 
flowing from the great Lake Ngami, 250 
miles up stream. It was now 4th July and 
late in the season, but for twelve more 
days they forced and jolted their waggons 
along the river bank until the oxen were 
nearly spent. Then Oswell and Living- 
stone picked out a span of the fittest, and 
pressed forward with a light waggon. As 
they neared the lake the bush grew denser, 
and in the space of 5 miles they cut down 
more than one hundred small trees to let 
the waggon pass. At last, on 28th July, 
they reached Lake Ngami, having taken 
nine weeks to cover the 600 miles between 
them and Kolobeng. 


34 


DAVID LIVINGSTONE 


Beyond the Zouga lay a fertile land of 
forest and plains, but the failure to reach 
it took away half the joy of their dis- 
covery. They could not get the waggons 
across, though Livingstone, at the risk of 
his life from alligators, spent many hours 
in the water vainly trying to make a raft. 
They were forced to return— Livingstone 
to Kolobeng, and Oswell to England; but 
they made plans to come again the next 
year, and Oswell promised to bring up a 
boat. 

Next year, however, their plans failed, 
for Oswell was delayed, and Livingstone 
started without him. He took with him 
his wife and children, and, in spite of the 
hardships of the desert, they reached the 
Zouga and Lake Ngami in safety. Here 
fever fell upon the children, and he was 
forced to return. On the way back he 
met Oswell, who had followed only a few 
weeks’ march behind. 

Nothing could be done that year, but in 
1851 these two great men again crossed 


BEYOND KALAHARI DESERT 35 

the Kalahari Desert, taking with them 
Mrs. Livingstone and the children. This 
time Oswell, with his usual unselfish care 
for others, went a day in advance and dug 
out the wells, and thus the rest of the 
party were saved from delay and thirst. 

They passed the Zouga in safety, and 
then, in a lovely land of fruits, flowers, and 
herds, they crossed stream after stream 
until they came to a point on the River 
Chobi 400 miles from Linyantd. Linyante 
was the headquarters of the Makololo 
tribe, and their wise and powerful chief 
hurried to meet the travellers. He was 
quite overcome by his first sight of white 
men, but Livingstone’s genial kindness 
soon set him at his ease, and then no 
one could have done more to help them. 
Sebituani told them all he knew about 
the country in and around his borders. 
Far to the north-west, he said, there lived 
a tribe who once sent back to him his 
present of an ox, and asked for a man to 
eat instead. From the east there came 


36 DAVID LIVINGSTONE 

black messengers from the Portuguese 
with calico and beads and guns in ex- 
change for slaves. 

He promised to take his white friends 
ten days north of Linyantd to the mighty 
River Seshdkd, which fell, men said, over 
a cliff into a chasm with a smoke and 
thunder that sounded many miles. Unfor- 
tunately this noble chief, whom Oswell de- 
scribed as a “gentleman in thought and 
manner,” died of pneumonia a few days 
after; but his tribe kept all his promises 
to the explorers. 

Leaving Mrs. Livingstone with the wag- 
gons in camp at the Chobi, the two 
friends went by canoe to Linyante, and 
thence on horseback to the Seshekd. 
Here they indeed saw a mighty river, 
which proved to be the great Zambesi ; 
but the waterfall was said to be far off, 
and the season was so late that once 
more they turned homewards. 

On the way back many new plans 
were made. They had just been on the 


BEYOND KALAHARI DESERT 37 

southern border of a country whence vile 
and brutal white men were getting slaves 
at the rate of eighteenpence apiece. If 
only they could find a good road into this 
country, honest trade might put an end 
to this wicked robbery of human lives. 
The road they had already found was 
too long and difficult, so Livingstone de- 
termined to revisit Linyantd the next year, 
and then seek a possible path to the sea- 
coast. It would be impossible for his 
family to go with him, and the thought 
of leaving them to the risks and dangers 
of Kolobeng was a great trouble to his 
mind. 

Once more the goodness of his com- 
panion came to his aid. For Oswell per- 
suaded Livingstone to send his wife and 
children to England, and also gave him 
the money for their outfit and expenses. 
He sold the ivory that had fallen to his 
rifle, and handed the price of it to his 
friend as a share of the game on their 
new preserves. 


CHAPTER IV 


FROM COAST TO COAST 


T IVINGSTONE took his family to Cape- 
" town, and saw them safely on board a 
ship bound for England. War was going 
on at the time with the Kaffirs, and he 
soon found that the white folk at the Cape 
looked on him with mistrust and dislike. 
They accused him and other missionaries 
of stirring up and helping the natives to 
rebel, and they even tried to prevent him 
from buying gunpowder for use on his 
journeys. 

There were many, however, who believed 
in him, and amongst these was Maclear, 
the Astronomer- Royal. From him Living- 
stone had more lessons on “taking his 

bearings,” and also learnt the use of an in- 

33 


FROM COAST TO COAST 39 

strument for telling exactly how many feet 
any place stood above the level of the sea. 

On his return northwards Livingstone 
was delayed by feeble oxen and a broken 
wheel, and thus he reached Kuruman only 
in time to learn that his home, the last 
he ever had, was in hopeless ruin. 

Six hundred Boers under Pretorius came 
to Kolobeng, carried off everything of value 
in his house, and wrecked the rest. Even 
the leaves of his precious diaries and note- 
books were torn and scattered to the winds. 
Moving onward to the native village, the 
Boers went morning and afternoon to the 
mission service and heard Mebalwd preach. 
After service they told Sechdld, the chief, 
that they had come to fight because he 
let Englishmen pass through his country. 
Surrounding the village, they fired the huts, 
and with long-range swivel-guns shot down 
sixty of the men, women, and children, who 
were huddled together on a hillock in the 
blinding smoke. 

When the flames were spent the Boers 


DAVID LIVINGSTONE 


closed in to finish their brutal work; but 
Sechdld held them at bay till nightfall, and 
sent them back to count their dead. Thirty- 
five Boers paid the price of this needless 
cruelty, while Secheld and his remnant 
escaped under cover of the night. 

To avoid the Boers, Livingstone passed 
well to the west of Kolobeng, and reached 
Linyante after much hardship. The rainy 
season had flooded the land between the 
rivers, and his hands and knees were cut 
and torn from wading through reeds and 
pushing his way through the thorny bush. 
Sekeldtu, the son of Sebituani, was now 
chief of the Makololo, and he soon grew 
fond enough of Livingstone to say “he had 
found a new father.” With an escort and 
supplies from his “ new son,” the missionary 
made a tour through the Barotsi country, 
but could find no place fit for a settlement. 
The whole district was too unhealthy for 
white men, and the natives were unpro- 
mising. 

Plunder and tyranny seemed the custom 


FROM COAST TO COAST 41 

of the country. Here, for the first time in 
his life, Livingstone saw a string of slaves 
trudging along in hopeless misery beneath 
their chains. Once a mother was leading 
her little boy by the hand along the track, 
when suddenly a man pounced upon the 
child, and dragged him away shrieking to 
lifelong slavery. 

Accordingly, in November 1853, Living- 
stone left Linyantd to carry out his plan 
of finding a way to the west coast. He 
set out with an escort of twenty-seven 
Makololo, and went by canoe up the 
Zambesi and Leeba, till some falls in the 
latter stopped him. From this point he 
went forward on ox-back, and, steering by 
compass as best he could, reached Loanda, 
in Portuguese country, in May 1854. 

The troubles and difficulties of the jour- 
ney were great. His medicine - chest was 
plundered, and his portable boat was lost. 
He was twice thrown from his ox, once on 
his head upon the hard ground, and once 
in the middle of a ford. He had thirty-one 


DAVID LIVINGSTONE 


42 

attacks of fever, and had to be his own 
doctor and nurse. His Makololo were 
cowards, and often wanted to go back, but 
Livingstone’s patient courage turned them 
into men. Many of the tribes were very 
troublesome when he asked leave to pass 
their borders. One chief refused to let him 
go by unless he gave up a riding-ox, a gun, 
or a male slave ; but Livingstone’s wonder- 
ful force of character overcame his demand. 
At Chiboque the natives refused to sell him 
food, and threatened to kill him if he did 
not give them an ox. They crowded round 
him, yelling and waving their spears and 
clubs over his head. Livingstone stood his 
ground with unflinching eye, and his fear- 
less spirit utterly quelled them. 

Another chief demanded his riding-ox or 
his life, and got the reply that he might 
kill him if he liked, but God would judge. 
The savage felt that he was in the presence 
of a greater chief than himself, and quailed 
before him. So great, indeed, was the power 
of Livingstone’s presence that he once re- 


FROM COAST TO COAST 


43 

leased a string of slaves by merely ordering 
their captors to let them go. A magic- 
lantern, with pictures from the Bible, helped 
him much in the management of the natives. 
They flocked to see it, though many were 
in terror lest the figures moving off the 
screen should enter into them as evil 
spirits. Livingstone humorously said that 
this was the only service they ever asked 
him to repeat. 

When almost at his journey’s end a party 
of natives stopped him at a ford on the 
Quango, in Portuguese country. Living- 
stone had little left to give away, so he 
handed over his razors and then his shirts, 
while the Makololo parted with their cop- 
per ornaments. This, however, was not 
enough; and Livingstone was just giving 
up his blanket and coat when a Portu- 
guese sergeant came up and drove the 
natives away. 

On his reaching Loanda, the Portuguese 
treated him with the utmost kindness, and 
gave him all he could possibly want, but 


44 DAVID LIVINGSTONE 

he afterwards found to his cost that some 
of this kindness was humbug. Here he 
had the chance of returning to England ; 
but, knowing that the Makololo could 
never reach home alone, he sent off his 
letters and scientific notes in the Fore- 
runner, and then started for Linyantd. 
The Portuguese gave him supplies for his 
party, and presents for the chiefs on his 
track. His Makololo bearers were given 
suits of red and blue cloth, while the 
Bishop of Loanda sent a colonel’s uni- 
form for Sekeletu. 

He had not gone very far when he was 
overtaken by the news that all his letters 
and scientific notes had been lost in the 
wreck of the Forerunner . There was 
nothing to be done but write them all over 
again ; and this delay, together with an 
attack of rheumatic fever, kept him from 
reaching Linyantd till September 1855. On 
their arrival, Sekeldtu and his whole tribe 
turned out to meet them, and the party 
entered the town in triumphal procession, 


FROM COAST TO COAST 45 

with the red and blue uniforms of the 
Makololo bearers in the van. Livingstone 
then held a service of thanksgiving, but 
the attention of his congregation was 
hopelessly upset by the glory of Sekeldtu 
in the dress of a Portuguese colonel. 

Livingstone did not remain long at Lin- 
yantd. The route to Loanda was too diffi- 
cult and unhealthy for general trade, so 
he decided to follow the Zambesi down to 
the east coast, in the hope of finding a 
better. Sekeldtu gave him a new escort 
of one hundred and twenty Makololo, and 
also supplied him with three riding -oxen, 
and ten more to be used for food. 

In November 1855 he found the water- 
fall that Oswell and he had marked on 
their charts from hearsay, but had never 
seen. Here the great Zambesi, more than 
a mile wide, plunged “like a downward 
smoke” 300 sheer feet into a chasm, and 
then went seething and swirling away 
through a narrow zigzag rift. Twice as 
large as the Canadian Niagara, its spray 


46 DAVID LIVINGSTONE 

darkened the sun above it, and its thunder 
boomed for miles. And, as in reverent 
silence he watched this mighty force flow 
on, Livingstone felt — 

“These are Thy wondrous works, Parent of good,” 

and he longed more than ever to see this 
lovely land in freedom and at peace. 

Before leaving the “ Mosi-oa-tunya,” or the 
“ Sounding Smoke,” Livingstone changed 
its name to the Victoria Falls ; but he little 
thought that in less than fifty years a 
railway bridge would span the gorge down 
which its waters swept. 

Keeping mainly to the north bank of 
the Zambesi, he made his way to Tetd, 
with much the same experience as 
usual. While his men and stores were 
crossing the Loangwe, he kept some un- 
friendly natives quiet by amusing them 
with his watch and burning-glass till all 
were safe. Once he was mistaken for 
a half-caste Portuguese slaver, and only 
saved his life by showing the colour of 


FROM COAST TO COAST 47 

his breast and arms. His riding-ox took 
a determined dislike to his umbrella, and 
wsuld not permit him to use it; so he 
suffered much from the rain, and even 
had to carry his watch in his arm-pit to 
keep it dry. At Tetd he left his Makololo 
bearers, and, promising to return to them 
some day, made his way on to Quilimane. 

In one respect his great journey was a 
failure: he had not found a really good 
route to the sea. Nevertheless he had 
found out two facts unknown to the 
world before. First, Central Africa was 
not a desert, but could produce metals, 
coffee, cotton, oil, sugar, corn, and many 
other things needed for the world’s use. 
Second, the natives were capable of being 
taught by gentleness and justice to make 
good use of their lives. 

These facts he wrote to the King of Por- 
tugal, telling him also that canals and 
roads could be easily made by the natives 
under good white leaders : then he set out 
for England to publish his knowledge in 


48 DAVID LIVINGSTONE 

a book which he called “ Missionary 
Travels.” 

He reached London in December 1856, 
and was at once lionised all over the 
kingdom. People were so full of en- 
couragement that he felt it his duty to go 
on with the career he had begun. Even 
Queen Victoria, the Prince Consort, and 
Lord Palmerston sent for him to praise 
his work, while the Royal Geographical 
Society and other public bodies held meet- 
ings in his honour. 

But every great - minded man tas to 
suffer from little - minded critics ; and 
Livingstone was accused by a few of not 
being enough of a missionary. More- 
over, at Quilimane he had received a letter 
from the London Missionary Society, say- 
ing that they could not “aid plans only 
remotely connected with the spread of the 
Gospel.” Livingstone took this to mean 
that they thought he had not preached 
enough for his pay. His own way was 
quite clear to him. He believed that his 


FROM COAST TO COAST 49 

first duty to God was to help in their need 
the men, women, and children whom God 
had caused to live. So, for the sake of 
the black millions of Africa, Livingstone 
gently and courteously withdrew himself 
from the Society, and started for Quili- 
mane as Her Majesty’s Consul, and as 
the leader of a British expedition to ex- 
plore the valley of the Zambesi. 


CHAPTER V 


THE ZAMBESI EXPEDITION 

TN 1858 Livingstone once more set sail for 
the Cape, taking his wife with him, but 
leaving his children behind. At Cape Town 
the people were anxious to make amends for 
their former unkindness to him, and now did 
all they could to give him a happy welcome. 

Continuing his voyage in the Pearl, up the 
east coast of Africa, he reached the mouth 
of the Zambesi, which enters the sea through 
many channels between low and swampy 
islands covered with thick jungle. The 
first thing to be done was to find out the 
deepest and safest of these channels, and 
many days were spent in sounding the 
depths of the water by sinking a lump of 
lead on the end of a line. An outlet called 


THE ZAMBESI EXPEDITION 51 

the Kongond proved to be the best, and up 
this channel they took the Pearl. 

Left and right the banks lay dark under 
the dense mangrove thicket, or shone bright 
with shrubs and flowers beneath tall palms 
and fern - trees, and forest timber laden 
and twined with creepers. Strange birds 
wheeled in bright flocks above them, or 
flashed in single brilliance across the stream. 
Here and there were open stretches where 
startled buffalo and zebra made off into 
the long grass, or a lazy rhinoceros could 
be heard wallowing and grunting out of 
sight among the giant reeds. 

To those who had not seen this country 
before, it was indeed a new fairyland of 
wonders. The native huts were built high 
in the air upon long stakes, with ladders 
reaching from their doorways to the ground. 
Down these the natives came scrambling in 
eager haste to see the Pearl . Some of 
them took her for a floating village, and 
others asked if she was hollowed out of a 
single tree-trunk like their own canoes. 


52 


DAVID LIVINGSTONE 


When the river became too shallow for 
so large a ship, Livingstone landed his 
stores on an island, and then went forward 
in a small steamer sent out by the Govern- 
ment for use on the Zambesi. The steamer 
proved to be a failure. She had been built 
to burn wood instead of coal ; but it took 
all her crew three days to cut enough fuel 
to drive her for two days. She was so slow 
that native canoes easily outstripped her; 
and she snorted, and creaked, and wheezed 
to such an extent that she was nicknamed 
the Asthmatic. 

This was a most grievous drawback to 
the expedition, but Livingstone, as usual, 
made the best of it. He took his stores to 
Shupanga, a Portuguese village near the 
point where the Zambesi is joined by another 
fine river called the Shird. Then by slow 
degrees he made his way up stream to Tete, 
where he had left his Makololo bearers on 
his former visit. They were overjoyed to 
see him again : some of them rushed to em- 
brace him, but others cried out, “ Don’t 


THE ZAMBESI EXPEDITION 53 

touch him,— you’ll spoil his new clothes.” 
People had told them that Livingstone 
would never return, but the Makololo knew 
he would never break his word. “We 
trusted you,” they told him, “and now we 
shall sleep.” 

Twenty miles above Tete the river broke 
through a chain of hills, and at this point 
the Asthmatic was stopped by the Kebra- 
basa Rapids. The river ran swiftly down a 
narrow valley, with the current broken here 
and there by jagged rocks or smooth water- 
worn boulders. At this season the river 
was at its lowest, and Livingstone decided 
to explore the rapids on foot ; for he thought 
it might yet be possible for small steamers 
to pass them when the river was full. 

Accordingly, he and his fellow - explorer, 
Dr. Kirk, set out with a native guide and 
some of the Makololo to make the matter 
sure. They followed up the bed of the river 
as best they could, taking measurements 
and notes as they went. Sometimes their 
way was over smooth terraces of rock, 


DAVID LIVINGSTONE 


54 

sometimes they scrambled over boulders, 
and once they had to wade up to their 
waists in spite of the risk of crocodiles. At 
night they slept under trees, and were 
lucky enough to be left alone by wild beasts, 
though a native across the river was killed 
one evening by a leopard. 

When at last they reached the head of 
the rapids, their guide declared that now 
there was nothing but smooth water before 
them. Thinking their difficult task was at 
an end, they began to return, but that night 
two natives came into camp, and said there 
was another rapid a few miles up stream. 

Taking three of the Makololo with them, 
Livingstone and Kirk went back again to 
settle the question. They found a narrow 
gorge, whose sides rose steeper than a 
gable roof from the river to the skyline, 2000 
feet above them. Up this they scrambled, 
cutting their way through the prickly scrub, 
and crawling over the face of the sloping 
cliff. The sun struck into the gorge with 
such force, that the rocks reeked like heated 


THE ZAMBESI EXPEDITION 55 

steel; and the climbers’ hands could hardly 
bear their grip long enough to gain firm 
foothold. Even the Makololo, whose naked 
soles were hard and tough as shoe-leather, 
limped with the pain of their burnt and 
blistered feet. They turned to Kirk, and 
said that Livingstone no longer had a heart, 
and must be stark mad to try and climb 
where no wild animal would go. Losing 
all heart, they wanted to lie down and sleep 
in the hollows, but Livingstone’s pluck and 
spirit carried them through. 

At last, after a scramble so steep and 
dangerous that they took three hours to 
climb one mile, the party reached a spot 
overhanging the rapid. Here the cliff 
dropped a hundred feet sheer into the 
stream, and rose like a wall just a short 
stone’s-throw across it. Into this narrow 
pass the whole wide river was crowded, 
and the current sped swiftly down, broken 
here and there into a white fleece by a ridge 
of jutting rock. They saw the flood-mark 
eighty feet up the opposite cliff. But Living- 


DAVID LIVINGSTONE 


56 

stone turned away in keen disappointment; 
for though a powerful steamer might stem 
the rapid at high flood, the river was use- 
less as a waterway for most of the year. 

In 1859 Livingstone turned his attention 
to a branch of the Zambesi, called the 
Shird. This river came slowly winding 
down a broad and fertile valley of forest 
and of plains, which stretched on either 
hand towards wooded hills with bare moun- 
tain-peaks beyond. Its banks were thick 
with leaf and blossom, and the air was 
filled with the scent of flowers, the song of 
birds, and the endless murmur of bees. 
Yet, as they passed up stream in the midst 
of all this beauty, the explorers could see 
the savage Manganja natives lurking be- 
hind trees, with bent bows, ready to shoot 
them down with barbed and poisoned arrows. 
Nothing happened, however, till the steamer 
came opposite the village of a chief named 
Tingand, who was a terror to the Portu- 
guese, and had never yet allowed any man 
to pass his borders. 


THE ZAMBESI EXPEDITION 57 

Here a crowd of five hundred Manganja 
lined the bank and ordered them to stop. 
Some of the savages even began to take 
aim with their fatal arrows, and it looked 
as though a terrible death would fall upon 
the explorers whether they obeyed or not. 
Livingstone at once went fearlessly on 
shore. He knew that he came for love of 
God, and he believed that he would not 
die till God no longer needed him to work 
on earth. 

Calm and smiling, as if in a playground 
full of children, he walked through the 
bloodthirsty mob to their chief, and told 
him that the steamer was English and not 
Portuguese. Then he explained that the 
English wished to put down the cruel slave 
trade, and make it easier for black men 
to sell their cotton and ivory for cloth and 
beads. 

Tingand liked the idea of this, and wished 
to hear more. Livingstone told him how 
the white man’s book said that all men 
and women were sons and daughters of 


58 DAVID LIVINGSTONE 

God, and therefore must not be treated 
with cruelty and unkindness. Thus Tin- 
gand was completely won over to friend- 
ship. He called his people together, and 
told them that the great white chief and 
healer of men had come with a good 
message, and might pass his borders in 
peace. 

After this there was no more trouble with 
the Manganja, and the leaky Asthmatic 
puffed and panted safely up the river, scar- 
ing out of their wits the wild animals upon 
its banks. Now and then a clumsy hippo- 
potamus, startled out of its sleep, would 
splash out of the water and tear into the 
jungle. Antelopes and zebras fled over the 
plains, and once the explorers disturbed a 
herd of more than eight hundred elephants. 
Wicked - looking crocodiles would some- 
times dash for the steamer with open 
jaws ; but, on finding that it was not 
good to eat, they would dive to the bottom 
like stones. The river was deep and free 
from sandbanks for 200 miles, but here the 


THE ZAMBESI EXPEDITION 59 

steamer was once more stopped by a chain 
of rapids stretching over 40 miles. These 
Livingstone named the Murchison Cata- 
racts, and from this point he made two 
journeys on foot. 

On the first trip he climbed over the 
mountains to the eastward, and found 
Lake Shirwa, whose waters were stagnant 
and bitter. His native guide told him there 
was a much larger lake to the northward; 
so Livingstone, after returning for supplies, 
once more started from the Murchison 
Cataracts in search of it. 

The way led over the highlands of the 
Manganja country towards the head of the 
Shire valley. The natives were warlike, 
but Livingstone had no trouble with them, 
and easily bought all the food he wanted 
with a few yards of calico or a handful of 
beads. The women wore their hair quite 
short, and disfigured themselves with a 
large ring of ivory or tin through the 
upper lip. The men kept their hair long, 
and did it in as many fashions as white 


6o 


DAVID LIVINGSTONE 


women. Sometimes they stiffened it with 
strips of bark into the likeness of a 
buffalo’s horn or tail ; sometimes they 
shaved off patches in the shape of some 
wild animal, and then thought themselves 
very beautiful. 

At last, on September 1 6, 1859, Living- 
stone came upon the magnificent Lake 
Nyassa, stretching away to the skyline 
like an inland sea. Out of its waters the 
River Shird ran smooth and deep all down 
the long valley to the Murchison Cata- 
racts. Forty miles of road could easily be 
made past these falls, and then the great 
Nyassa would be open to the sea. The 
uplands of the Shire valley were healthy 
and fertile, and here at last was the place 
where a colony of Christian emigrants 
might teach and show the Africans a life 
of righteousness and industry. Moreover, 
Livingstone saw that, as all the slave traffic 
had to cross the river or the lake, a single 
small steamer could soon put an end to 
the trade. 


THE ZAMBESI EXPEDITION 61 


He therefore wrote home, and promised 
.£2000 from the price of his book to be 
spent in sending out suitable emigrants. 
At the same time he asked the Govern- 
ment for a new vessel to replace the dying 
Asthmatic , and he also offered .£4000 to- 
wards a little steamer for Lake Nyassa. 
In the meantime, while waiting their 
arrival, he kept his promise to the Mako- 
lolo, and started up the Zambesi to take 
them home to Linyante. 


CHAPTER VI 

THE UPPER SHIRE AND LAKE NYASSA 

his return from Linyante to Tete, 
^ Livingstone once more went on board 
the Asthmatic , and started to meet his new 
steamer at the mouth of the Zambesi. Some 
of the Makololo had refused to go back to 
their native country, and Livingstone was 
thus able to have a few of these faithful 
men with him still. 

The poor Asthmatic , however, did not 
reach her journey’s end. Her steel plates 
were rotten with rust, and she leaked in 
all directions. Her cabin floor was flooded, 
her bridge was broken down, and her 
engines groaned aloud. In this water- 
logged and rickety state she touched a 
sandbank, turned on her side, and sank, 

6z 


THE UPPER SHIRE 63 

after giving her crew just enough time to 
save themselves and their stores in canoes. 

A few weeks later, in June 1861, the new 
steamer, called the Pioneer, reached the 
mouth of the Zambesi. At the same time, 
there came a party of missionaries under 
the brave Bishop Mackenzie, who had been 
sent out by the Universities of Oxford and 
Cambridge to settle in the Shird valley. 
Livingstone would have taken the mission 
party up the Shird at once, but he was 
ordered by the Government to look for 
another way to Lake Nyassa, along the 
River Rovuma. 

Taking the Bishop with him, he started 
immediately to carry out his orders, but 
the new steamer upset all his plans. 
The Pioneer was a splendid little vessel, 
but she lay two feet deeper in the water 
than she ought, and so kept running 
aground on the sandbanks. After strug- 
gling a short distance up the Rovuma, 
Livingstone gave up the attempt, and re- 
turned with the Pioneer to take the mission 


DAVID LIVINGSTONE 


64 

party up the Shird. Landing at the Murchi- 
son Cataracts, they made their way towards 
the Manganja highlands on foot. 

The party had not gone very far before 
they learnt from the natives that gangs of 
slavers had been seen passing through the 
country with their captives. This was dis- 
tressing news, and Livingstone now found 
out how false some of his Portuguese friends 
had been. The Portuguese had helped and 
encouraged Livingstone to make friends of 
the natives; then, as soon as he had gone, 
they had sent their servants on his tracks 
to make slaves. These brutal ruffians said 
they were “ Livingstone’s children,” and so 
the natives let them pass into the heart 
of the country in peace. Then the slavers 
bribed a strong tribe to attack a weak tribe, 
and after the fight they made slaves of the 
captives. Livingstone’s unexpected return 
caught some of these villains in the very 
act. 

He had halted his party in a village for 
rest and food, when suddenly a long file of 



A long file of slaves 



















THE UPPER SHIR£ 65 

eighty-four slaves came round the hillside 
towards them. The captives, mostly women 
and children, were roped together with 
thongs of raw hide, but some of the men 
had their necks fixed in a “ goree,” or forked 
slave - stick. The back of the neck was 
thrust into the fork, and the two prongs 
were joined by a bar of iron under the chin, 
while a slaver walked behind, holding the 
shaft of the stick, ready to wring the poor 
slave’s neck at the first sign of escape. 
Worn out with pain, misery, and fatigue, 
the hapless slaves limped and staggered 
beneath their loads. The slavers, decked 
out with red caps and gaudy finery, marched 
jauntily along, blowing tin horns and shout- 
ing as though they had just won a noble 
victory. 

At the first sight of the little English 
party, these braggarts fled headlong into 
the bush ; but one of the Makololo was too 
quick for their leader, and caught him by 
the wrist. Dragging him by the arm, and 
driving him with the terror of a spear-point, 


66 


DAVID LIVINGSTONE 


the Makololo brought the chief of the slave 
gang to Livingstone, who at once recog- 
nised him as a servant of the Portuguese 
chief officer at Tete. 

The inhuman wretch said he had bought 
the slaves, but his prisoners told a different 
tale. They had been captured in war by 
the slavers, who had burnt their village, 
murdered their tribesmen, and marched 
them off in bonds towards Tetd. On the 
way two of the women had tried to loosen 
the thongs that cut their flesh, and were 
instantly shot by their captors. One of the 
men sank down with fatigue, and was killed 
with an axe as a warning to the others. 
Another woman became too exhausted to 
carry her load as well as her baby. The 
heartless slavers tore the child from her 
arms and killed it with terrible cruelty. 

Livingstone and his friends quickly set 
themselves to the work of cutting the thongs 
and sawing the slave-sticks off the captives, 
and while they were thus busy, the chief of 
the slavers escaped. 


THE UPPER SHIR& 67 

Continuing the journey, the Englishmen 
set free several parties of slaves in the 
next few days before reaching the village 
of Magomero. Here Chigunda, the chief, 
invited Bishop Mackenzie to settle ; and, 
as the spot seemed a good one, Magomero 
was thus made the station for the Uni- 
versities* Mission. All the freed slaves 
were joined to the mission, and the work 
of building was going on quickly, when 
word came that a tribe from the neigh- 
bouring Ajawa country were raiding slaves 
from a village close by. Livingstone and 
the Bishop thought that a friendly talk 
might win the Ajawa over to better ways, 
and a small party at once left the mission 
station to make the attempt. It was not 
long before they saw the smoke of a burn- 
ing village, and then, hurrying forward over 
a hillside, they came upon the raiders making 
off with plunder and captives. 

The Ajawa leader sprang on an ant- 
hill to count the missionary band, and 
Livingstone at once shouted that he had 


68 


DAVID LIVINGSTONE 


come in peace for a friendly talk. Un- 
luckily, some Manganja followers called 
out the name of their great warrior, 
Chibisa, foolishly hoping to frighten the 
raiders away. 

At once the Ajawa leaders raised the cry 
of “Nkondo! Nkondo!— War! War!” and 
all the raiders dashed to the attack. Keep- 
ing at a distance of about a hundred yards, 
they began to surround the little band. 
Some of the Ajawa danced like madmen, 
with hideous grimaces meant to strike 
terror into the white men’s hearts. Others 
played clownish antics with their weapons 
to show how they would treat their foes. 
Others shot poisoned arrows from shelter 
behind trunks and stones, and wounded one 
man in the arm. 

Still Livingstone tried bravely and nobly 
for peace, but in vain: the savages were 
like wild beasts thirsting for prey. Then 
some more of the raiders came up and 
began to fire with muskets. Livingstone 
was unarmed, but some of the party had 


THE UPPER SHIR6 69 

rifles, and fired a few shots in reply. As 
soon as the Ajawa heard the sing of the 
rifle-bullets, they fled in a panic. Some of 
them shouted back that they would track 
the white men down, and kill them where 
they slept, but they never dared to return. 

This was the first time that Livingstone 
had failed to make peace, and it was through 
no fault of his own. But for the foolish 
cry of the Manganja, he would most pro- 
bably have succeeded. 

He stayed at Magomero till he was ob- 
liged to return to the Pioneer; and his 
parting advice to the Bishop was never to 
interfere with the quarrels of the natives, 
and also to keep on the highlands, so as to 
escape the fever near the river. 

Livingstone and Kirk now started to 
explore Lake Nyassa. A four-oared boat, 
fitted with a sail, was slung on poles, and 
carried to the head of the Murchison Cata- 
racts by native bearers. Here they launched 
her, and with oar and sail passed along the 
smooth waters of the Upper Shird, till they 


70 DAVID LIVINGSTONE 

reached the lake. Keeping to the eastern 
coast, they passed bay after bay on a 
beautiful and fertile shore, backed by a 
grand range of purple hills. Cotton and 
corn grew well, and the explorers often saw 
men spinning, weaving, and sewing in the 
huts, while the women hoed the corn. The 
natives were great fishermen, and caught 
all kinds of fish with fine woven nets and 
ivory hooks of their own making. 

The lake was subject to heavy storms, 
and once the explorers were caught a mile 
from shore by a furious squall. They could 
not land, for in a few minutes the billows 
ran so high, and broke upon the beach with 
such force, their little boat would have been 
dashed to splinters on the stones. All they 
could do was to hold her bows to the wind 
with their oars and try to outride the fury 
of the storm. Up on the crest, down in 
the trough, they fought it wave by wave 
for many hours, while every moment a 
chance of death went speeding by. As the 
white lip of each roller curled over, they 


THE UPPER SHIRE 71 

held their breath, in doubt lest the threaten- 
ing mass should break over the little boat 
and swamp her. Yet breaker after breaker 
went hissing and gurgling past on either 
hand, but not a single one struck her. At 
last, when the storm sank down, they were 
able to land with stiff and aching muscles, 
but with thankful minds. 

After following the shore for nearly two 
hundred miles, the explorers were almost 
at the head of the lake when they had to 
turn back. Livingstone had arranged to 
go down the Zambesi to meet a ship from 
England which was bringing his wife to 
join his labours once more, and on board 
the same vessel were supplies for the 
Pioneer , and also the little steamer he had 
bought for use in putting down the slave 
trade on Lake Nyassa. 

On their way down the Shird, the Pioneer 
struck on a shoal, and there she had to 
stay for five weeks, till the river rose 
enough to float her again. At length 
Livingstone reached the sea, and found his 


72 DAVID LIVINGSTONE 

wife on board the cruiser Gorgon, but the 
joy of their meeting was not to last long. 
A few weeks after her arrival, she was 
seized by fever at Shupanga. Day and 
night Livingstone nursed and tended her 
with his utmost skill and care, but all in 
vain. In April 1862 she died, and this was 
a sorrow that lasted all his days. 


CHAPTER VII 

FOILED BY THE SLAVERS 

T IVINGSTONE now made a second 
" attempt to reach Lake Nyassa by 
the River Rovuma. The explorers started 
in rowing-boats with a party from the 
cruiser Gorgon , and made their way up 
stream for many days without much 
adventure, though twice their right of way 
was disputed. 

Once a tribe of natives crowded both 
banks, and, while fitting poisoned arrows 
to their bows, began the hideous antics of 
their war dance. Their chief hailed the 
boats, and ordered the explorers to stop 
and pay toll. After a parley, Livingstone 
gave him thirty yards of calico, and he 
promised in return that his tribe would be 


DAVID LIVINGSTONE 


74 

their friends. No sooner, however, had 
the first boat rounded the next bend of the 
river, than a cloud of poisoned arrows and 
a few musket - balls came whizzing and 
singing over the heads of her crew. The 
sail was cut and torn, but luckily no one 
was wounded, and a few rifle-shots from 
the second boat sent the natives flying 
through the bush. 

Another time a surly hippopotamus tried 
to stop their way. He seemed to think 
they had no right to cross his favourite 
bathing-pool, and wake him out of his mid- 
day sleep. Diving under the water, he came 
up just under the boat, and rocked her to 
and fro as he tried to lay hold of her with 
his clumsy jaws. After grinding away at 
her planks for a while with his teeth, he 
at last made up his mind that she was too 
big and too tough for him to swallow, and 
then he plunged off in a fit of the sulks. 

When Livingstone had taken the boats 
as far up the Rovuma as possible, he found 
that the river was divided into two branches, 


FOILED BY THE SLAVERS 75 

and the natives told him that neither of 
them came from the Lake Nyassa. Accord- 
ingly he returned to Shupanga, and then 
for the last time started up the Shire in 
the Pioneer with his own little steamer, 
the Lady Nyassa , in tow. 

It was not long before he began to see 
that, even in the short time he had been 
away, the deadly slave trade had come like 
a blight on the land. A half-bred Portu- 
guese, named Mariano, and his brutal 
gang had deceived Tingane by calling them- 
selves “ Livingstone’s children,” and so were 
treated as friends. Thus, taking him by 
treachery, they killed him and many of his 
tribe, and dragged off all they could to 
slavery. Not content with this, they burnt 
the village and the stores of corn, destroyed 
the crops, and drove away the flocks. No 
more corn would grow for many months, 
and those who escaped were thus left to 
starve. Many of them clung to life by hunt- 
ing game and digging up roots, but far the 
greater number of them died of famine. 


76 DAVID LIVINGSTONE 

When once Tingane was overcome, the 
work of the slavers was easier; for his 
tribe was the strongest, and had been the 
frontier guard. Village by village this foul 
and ruthless piracy spread up the river, till 
now Livingstone saw the whole face of the 
country changed. 

The smiling valley he had found four 
years ago was now a land of death, strewn 
with black ruins and whitened skeletons. 
Even the song-birds were silent around 
the wasted homes, as though they could 
not bear to sing in the midst of such misery 
and desolation. Yet the inhuman Portu- 
guese were paying Mariano for his slaves, 
and Livingstone had not the power to stop 
them. All he could do was to push on 
with his work, and publish all he saw, in 
the hope that the British Government 
would interfere. 

But fortune was against him completely. 
On reaching the Murchison Cataracts the 
explorers unscrewed the Lady Nyassa to 
pieces, and then began to make a road 



They burnt the village 











FOILED BY THE SLAVERS 77 

over which they could take her, bit by bit, 
to the head of the rapids. Before the first 
mile of this road was finished, both Kirk 
and Livingstone fell dangerously ill, and 
Kirk had to return to England. 

At the same time a despatch came from 
the British Government to recall the ex- 
pedition. The Portuguese Government had 
forbidden all ships but their own to enter 
the Zambesi, and the British did not think 
it worth while to interfere. A bitter dis- 
appointment like this might well have 
broken his spirit, but Livingstone was too 
brave and too faithful to his cause for that. 
The Pioneer must wait several months for 
the floods before she could go down the 
river, and meanwhile he would row round 
Nyassa in search of a way to the sea out- 
side Portuguese country. 

Once more his bearers started to carry a 
boat past the cataracts, and all went well 
till they came to a stretch of smooth but 
swift water below the uppermost rapid. 
Here, to save labour, the boat was launched 


78 DAVID LIVINGSTONE 

and towed up stream with a rope from the 
bank. All their stores were put inside her, 
and also some of the Makololo, who kept 
her off the rocks with poles. After two 
miles the Makololo, who were splendid 
canoe-men, said the current was too swift 
and dangerous, and they brought the boat 
to the bank. 

Then some conceited Zambesi canoe-men 
took hold of the poles and tow-rope, saying 
they would teach the Makololo how to 
take her up the rapid. Livingstone had 
moved on, away from the bank, and knew 
nothing of their intention till he heard loud 
shouts of distress. He rushed to the bank 
just in time to see his stores and the 
Zambesi men in the water, and his boat 
shooting keel uppermost down the river 
like a dart. 

Some of the party gave chase, but the 
bank was too difficult for speed, and they 
never saw the boat again. The Zambesi 
men swam to shore and knelt down, with 
their foreheads touching the earth, at 


FOILED BY THE SLAVERS 79 

Livingstone’s feet. He sent them down to 
the Pioneer for more stores, and, nothing 
daunted by this new disappointment, started 
off to go round Nyassa on foot. But in 
spite of all his efforts he did not reach the 
end of the lake before it was time to return 
to the Pioneer and make his last voyage 
down the Shird. 

The Universities’ Mission also had come 
to an end for a while. The brave Bishop 
Mackenzie had lost his life from fever on 
a journey down the Shird. The rest of the 
missionaries thought it best to move down 
from the highlands to the river bank, and 
one by one they died of fever. Livingstone 
now took the remnant of the mission away 
with him on board the Pioneer , lest they 
should again fall into the hands of the 
slavers. 

In February 1864 he handed the Pioneer 
over to H.M.S. Orestes , at the mouth of the 
Zambesi, while his own little steamer was 
taken in tow to Zanzibar by the cruiser 
Ariel. Here he learnt that many people in 


8o 


DAVID LIVINGSTONE 


England and at the Cape were blaming 
him for the failure of the Zambesi expedi- 
tion, and also for the fate of the Universi- 
ties’ Mission. Livingstone felt this very 
keenly, for he knew that the chief blame 
lay with the slave trade. If the British 
Government had forced the Portuguese to 
put an end to slavery, there would have 
been no failure at all. 

Defeated and disappointed as he was, 
Livingstone would not give in, for he knew 
that he was working in God’s cause. He 
also firmly believed that, if he could only 
make his countrymen really understand the 
wicked cruelty and waste in Africa, they 
would come to the rescue. Clearly it was 
his duty to awaken their understanding 
and show them the way when they came. 
He determined to visit England, and pub- 
lish all he knew about Africa and the slave 
trade ; then he would return to his pioneer- 
ing, and find out more. 

To get money for the voyage he now 
tried to sell the Lady Nyassa , but, on hear- 


FOILED BY THE SLAVERS 81 

mg that the Portuguese wanted her for 
a slave -boat, he decided to take her to 
Bombay. 

This was one of the boldest feats he 
ever carried out. Taking with him a crew 
of three white men and nine natives, he 
started in the tiny little steamer to cross 
2500 miles of the Indian Ocean with fourteen 
tons of coal. Two of his white sailors fell 
ill, and so for many days he and the third 
man shared the watch in spells of four 
hours. Then they lost the wind, and lay 
becalmed for twenty-five days, not daring 
to waste their coal. At last a breeze sprang 
up, and they were able to use their sails 
again ; but they had to pass through two 
furious storms before their journey’s end. 

The good little Lady Nyassa , however, 
came safely through everything, till strands 
of seaweed and green and yellow sea- 
serpents told them they were near the 
coast of India. They had then only enough 
coal to last twenty-eight hours, and their 
supplies were nearly done; but still they 


82 


DAVID LIVINGSTONE 


managed to hold out and reach Bombay 
after a voyage of forty-five days. The Lady 
Nyassa was so small that no one noticed 
her arrival till Livingstone went on shore 
and made himself known. 

In due time Livingstone reached England, 
and wrote an account of the expedition in a 
book called “The Zambesi and its Tribu- 
taries.” He was sought out everywhere 
for speeches, lectures, and entertainments; 
but as soon as his work in England was 
finished he returned to Zanzibar to carry 
out the purpose of his life. 

Before leaving England the Prime Minis- 
ter sent to ask him if there was anything 
he wanted. Many men would have asked 
for money or a title, but Livingstone 
thought of nothing but his work. His only 
request was that the Government would 
make a treaty with Portugal to put down 
slavery and open the Zambesi to honest 
trade. He was then called before a com- 
mittee of the House of Commons, who 
heard all his opinions about Africa and the 


FOILED BY THE SLAVERS 83 

slave trade. Yet all the Government did at 
the time was to give him .£500 towards his 
expenses, and to make him Consul of Central 
Africa, but without a salary and without 
a pension. His friends in the Royal Geo- 
graphical Society gave £1500 towards the 
new expedition, and Livingstone promised 
them to try and discover the true sources 
of the Congo and the Nile. 


CHAPTER VIII 


IN THE HEART OF AFRICA 

TN March 1866 Livingstone landed near 
A the mouth of the Rovuma, and, at the 
age of fifty-three, began the seven long 
years of hardship, misery, and pain that 
wore him to his death. Thirty-six bearers 
came with him, of whom thirteen were 
Sepoys from Bombay, and ten were natives 
of Johanna. Livingstone was very anxious 
to find some beast of burden which could 
stand the poison of the tsetse-fly; and for 
this experiment he brought with him some 
camels, Indian buffaloes, mules, donkeys, 
and a calf. Carrying stores was the great 
difficulty in his travels, and a few hardy 
beasts of burden, instead of a number of 

84 


IN THE HEART OF AFRICA 85 

unruly knaves, would have saved him from 
the terrible want he afterwards had to 
suffer. 

It was not long before his troubles 
began. The Sepoys had charge of the 
animals, and neglected them so shamefully 
that one by one the poor creatures died. 
Livingstone found he could not trust one 
of the thirteen out of his sight, and at 
last they grew so troublesome that he 
sent them back to the sea. His next dis- 
covery was that the ten natives from 
Johanna were rascals and thieves; and 
one of them, Musa, who had worked in 
the Lady Nyassa , turned out the worst of 
the lot. Moreover, the country had been 
ravaged by slavers, and food grew scarcer 
and scarcer, till at length they lived mainly 
on maize and the few pigeons and guinea- 
fowl shot by the way. 

The signs of the slave trade were ter- 
rible. Here, as in the valley of the Shire, 
nothing seemed too brutal to be done. 
Even women were tied to trees and left 


86 DAVID LIVINGSTONE 

to starve, because they were too worn out 
to trudge any longer. 

Most of the slavers in this district were 
Arabs, and they did all they could to make 
trouble for Livingstone. He reached Nyassa 
in August, at a point half - way up its 
eastern shore, and here he wanted to 
cross; but all the boats were in the hands 
of the slavers, and Livingstone could get 
nothing to take him over. 

Determined not to be beaten, he walked 
round the south end of the lake, and, on 
crossing the Shird, he came upon ground 
that he had passed before. Old times and 
old friends came into his mind, and he 
wondered sadly if all their labour had been 
wasted. He thought also of his faithful 
Makololo, and longed to have them in the 
place of his present bearers. 

After passing round the south end of 
Lake Nyassa, he took a north-westerly 
direction, and came to the village of a 
chief named Marenga. Here they met an 
Arab slaver, who cunningly invented a 


IN THE HEART OF AFRICA 87 

story in the hope of frightening Living- 
stone’s bearers from going any farther. 
He told Musa that a savage Mazitu chief 
was in front of them, killing all who 
passed his borders, with great cruelty. 
Musa believed this story, and refused to 
go onward. Livingstone tried to convince 
the coward that there were no Mazitu in 
the district, but all his efforts were use- 
less. Musa and the other nine Johanna 
natives deserted in a body ; but the rest 
of the bearers, much to the Arab’s dis- 
appointment, remained faithful. 

From Marenga’s Livingstone pushed on 
towards Lake Tanganyika, and his hard- 
ships daily grew greater. Owing to the 
slave trade, food was scarce, and the 
natives had little to sell. For many 
days the explorer lived on African maize, 
helped down with milk from some goats 
he had brought for the purpose. The 
next misfortune was the loss of his 
goats, and this left him to break and 
loosen his teeth on the tough, hard maize, 


88 DAVID LIVINGSTONE 

while he dreamed of delicious and savoury 
dinners. 

This want of food made him very weak, 
and, moreover, the toils of the march were 
great. Often he had to wade through 
marshes up to the waist ; and after the 
burning day, with its clouds of flies, there 
came the damp heat of night, with clouds 
of mosquitoes bringing fever in their poison- 
ous bite. All this was trouble enough, but 
worse still happened. 

One day a native bearer, possibly bribed 
by a slaver, disappeared with Livingstone’s 
medicine - chest, and he was now left de- 
fenceless against fever. Soon he became 
so ill that he sometimes lay insensible on 
the ground; but still his pluck carried him 
through, and at last, in April 1867, he 
reached Chitembd’s village, on Lake Tan- 
ganyika, where he found rest and better 
food. 

Meanwhile, Musa and the other Johanna 
natives had gone back to Zanzibar. They 
knew they would get no pay if their bad 



Often he had to wade through marshes up to the waist 



IN THE HEART OF AFRICA 89 

conduct was found out, so they swore that 
Livingstone was dead, and therefore they 
were obliged to return. Musa made up a 
clever story describing how Livingstone 
had been attacked by natives, and had 
died fighting bravely, while the faithful 
Johanna men, after escaping from the fight, 
had returned at nightfall to bury their 
beloved master. Musa repeated this lie 
so skilfully that every one believed him ; 
and even Dr. Kirk, who was now at Zan- 
zibar, was taken in completely. The tale 
was told at home in the papers, and all 
his countrymen were grieving for his loss, 
when an Englishman, Edward Young, began 
to doubt the story. Young had been on 
the Lady Nyassa with Musa, and knew 
that the rascal’s word could never be 
trusted. He laughed at the idea of a 
coward like Musa returning after a fight 
to bury any one, and he found other faults 
in his story. 

At last the Royal Geographical Society 
sent Young to Africa to find out the truth. 


90 DAVID LIVINGSTONE 

He went up the Shire in a steel boat 
called the Search , and his bearers carried 
her in pieces past the Murchison Cata- 
racts. Then, launching her again on the 
Upper Shird, he made his way by Lake 
Nyassa to Marenga’s country. Here he 
found out the utter falsehood of Musa’s 
story, and learnt that Livingstone had been 
seen alive on his way to Tanganyika. 

Young now returned to England ; and, 
though his news was mainly good, yet 
many people were still very anxious about 
the explorer’s safety. In one way Musa 
had done his master a good turn without 
the least intention. For so much had 
been said in the papers about Livingstone, 
that people began to see how great was 
his work and how noble his life. 

All this time Livingstone knew nothing 
either of Musa’s lies or of Young’s gallant 
search. While at Chitembd’s village he 
heard of a chain of lakes joined by a big 
river, and he started westward to find 
them. Slave-raiding was going on all over 


IN THE HEART OF AFRICA 91 

the country that lay before him ; but in 
spite of this Livingstone discovered Lake 
Moero, in November 1867, after suffering 
terribly from illness and want of food. A 
beautiful river, called the Luapula, ran into 
the lake at the south, and out again to 
the north. Down stream, to the northward, 
the natives said the Luapula reached a 
long lake of many islands ; while up 
stream, to the southward, they said it came 
from a large lake, called Bangweolo. 

Livingstone decided to look for Bang- 
weolo first. Setting out from Moero in a 
southerly course, he came to the village of 
Kazembd, a chief who punished his people 
by cutting off their hands and ears. At 
Kazembd’s he fell in with an Arab trader, 
Mohammed Bogharib, who at once took a 
great liking to the explorer. Mohammed 
asked him to dine, and Livingstone sat 
down on a mat to a feast of vermicelli and 
oil, meal cakes and honey; and then, the 
first time for many months, he warmed his 
heart with a bowl of good coffee and sugar. 


92 


DAVID LIVINGSTONE 


From the accounts of the natives, Bang- 
weolo was only ten days’ march from 
Kazembd’s, but now Livingstone’s bearers 
refused to go onward. Five only remained 
faithful to the kindest master they ever 
had, and with these the journey was begun. 
It was the same tale of hardship and toil, 
want and suffering ; and, since the theft 
of his medicine - chest, there was nothing 
to soothe the fever or ease the pain. Yet 
through all this his patient faith and quiet 
valour carried him on, and, in July 1868, 
he came upon the beautiful Lake Bang- 
weolo. There were islands dotted about in 
it, and Livingstone visited some of them 
in a native canoe ; but, when he wanted 
to paddle across the lake, his canoe-men 
refused. They were afraid of being made 
slaves. 

Indeed, the curse of slavery seemed every- 
where in the land. On his way to Bang- 
weolo, Livingstone had passed some slaves 
trudging along in their slave - sticks, yet 
singing as they went. Their only hope was 


IN THE HEART OF AFRICA 93 

death ; and they were looking forward with 
revengeful joy, because they ignorantly be- 
lieved their spirits could return and kill 
their captors. The meaning of their chant 
was, “Oh, you send me to the sea-coast, 
but my yoke is off in death ; back I’ll come 
to haunt and kill you.” Then, as a chorus, 
they hissed between their teeth in bitter 
hatred the names of those who had robbed 
them of their freedom. 

Livingstone now struggled back to Ka- 
zembd’s, utterly worn out with toil, hunger, 
and fever. Here he found Mohammed Bog- 
harib on the point of returning to Ujiji, 
and he gladly accepted the Arab’s kind 
offer of an escort thither. Ujiji stood upon 
the eastern shore of Tanganyika, and also 
was on the main slave-route to Zanzibar. 
Before leaving Zanzibar, in the February 
of 1866, Livingstone had arranged with Dr. 
Kirk to send stores, medicine, letters, and 
newspapers to await him at Ujiji, and now 
he looked forward to news of his children, 
and relief from sickness and pain. 


94 DAVID LIVINGSTONE 

The journey was a terrible one ; for 
Livingstone grew worse and worse, till at 
last he grew dazed with fever and pain, 
and lost count of the days. Mohammed 
saved his life by having him carried in a 
hammock till they reached the west shore 
of Tanganyika, and took canoe to Ujiji. 
The voyage of eighteen days, and the hope 
of his letters and medicine, revived him 
greatly, and he landed at Ujiji with joy. 
But the two men in charge of his stores 
had sold nearly all of them for ivory and 
slaves, and his medicines and mails had 
been left at Unyanyembd, thirteen days 
distant, while the road there was blocked 
by a slave war. 

It was now March 1869, and he had not 
seen a white man’s face, or heard of his 
children, for three years. 


CHAPTER IX 

A DEATHBLOW TO SLAVERY 

T IVINGSTONE at once wrote to Kirk 
" at Zanzibar for more stores to be sent 
to Ujiji. At the same time he sent a letter 
to the Sultan of Zanzibar, asking- him for 
fifteen trustworthy bearers to carry the 
new supplies. Then, as soon as could be, 
he collected the remnant of his plundered 
things, and wrote his letters and accounts 
of his doings. One or two letters reached 
him here, but these were nearly three years 
old ; and very many of his own to his friends 
never got even as far as the sea-coast. At 
a single time he sent off a budget of forty- 
two letters and scientific records, but none 
were heard of again. 

The reason of this was only too plain. 

95 


96 DAVID LIVINGSTONE 

Ujiji was like a den of villains and thieves. 
All the worst of the slave - trading Arabs 
gathered there on their way to and from 
the coast. They knew that Livingstone 
was against their trade, and they hated 
him accordingly. Some, like Mohammed 
Bogharib, had sense enough to see his 
greatness, and to help him; but others, 
though they dared nothing to his face, did 
all they could behind his back to ruin his 
work and thwart his plans. Wherever they 
met him on his journeys, they would frighten, 
bully, or bribe his bearers to make them 
rebel. By telling the natives that Living- 
stone was really a slaver and a spy, the}' 
tried to make them refuse him food, guides, 
and canoes. There can be little doubt that 
they got hold of his messengers and de- 
stroyed his letters. 

After a three months* rest at Ujiji, Living- 
stone felt well enough to set out again. 
Leaving orders for the new bearers from 
Zanzibar to come after him, he started with 
his old followers, and with the few stores 


A DEATHBLOW TO SLAVERY 97 

he had been able to get together. In July 
1869 he crossed Lake Tanganyika by canoe ; 
then, striking to the north-west, he made 
his way on foot to Kabambard, in the Man- 
yema country. Here the River Luapula, 
flowing from Lakes Bangweolo and Moero, 
was known by the name of the Lualaba, 
and Livingstone hoped to explore it. Would 
the Lualaba prove to be the Nile or the 
Congo? That was the question he wanted 
to settle. 

At Kabambard the chief was called Moene- 
koos, a name meaning “ Lord of the light- 
grey, red-tailed parrot”: and he proved so 
friendly, that Livingstone rested in his village 
for ten days. Then, starting again in Novem- 
ber, the explorer went westward, through 
Manyema, till he reached the River Luama, 
at a point ten miles from its junction with 
the great Lualaba. 

The country through which they passed 
was wonderful in its beauty. Tall palms 
and forest timber crowded the valleys and 
clothed the hillsides to the skyline. Giant 


98 DAVID LIVINGSTONE 

creepers, as thick as cables, were twisted 
round the massive trunks, or hung from 
limb to limb, and tree to tree, like the 
rigging of a ship. Lilies, orchids, clematis, 
and marigolds opened their rich colours to 
the light and poured their scent into the 
air ; while all kinds of fruit clustered among 
the leaves. Gaudy parrots and other gay- 
feathered birds flashed about in the brilliant 
heat, while tribes of monkeys ran up the 
trunks, scampered along the branches, or 
swung themselves on the rope-like creepers. 
Sometimes a group of these would get to- 
gether in a tree-top, and there they would 
chatter and grin about the news of the 
day, and the latest fashions of the monkey 
world. Sometimes they would jabber and 
grimace more earnestly, as though about 
monkey politics; and at times they lost 
their tempers and pelted each other 
with nuts and husks. Now and then 
one of them, either from annoyance or 
for sheer mischief, would take a shot at 
the travellers. 


A DEATHBLOW TO SLAVERY 99 

Villages were very frequent ; and many of 
the natives kept goats, sheep, and fowls, 
and also had gardens of maize, bananas, 
and sugar-cane. Others were helpless and 
ignorant, even not knowing how to light a 
fire by twirling a pointed stick round and 
round inside a hole in a slab of wood. 

The natives were not very friendly, for 
they believed that Livingstone was a slaver. 
Some of them said they were cannibals, and 
in order to frighten his bearers, showed 
them the skull of a “ soko ” or gorilla, which 
they had eaten. Livingstone found, how- 
ever, that they never ate men; but often 
enticed a soko with a clump of bananas, 
and then speared him for food. 

At the Luama, nothing could induce the 
natives to let Livingstone have a canoe with 
which to explore the Lualaba. He found 
out afterwards that even his own bearers 
tried to set the natives against him; for 
this, they thought, would force him to give 
up his journey and take them home. In- 
deed, the ceaseless worry of these worthless 


100 DAVID LIVINGSTONE 

rascals did more to wear him out than all 
the toils of the journey. 

Disappointed, but not beaten, Livingstone 
returned to Kabambare, and stayed there 
for many months till the rainy season was 
over. Then, in June 1870, he started with 
only his three faithful followers, Susi, Chuma, 
and Gardner, and again made the attempt 
to explore the great river. But the natives, 
made unfriendly by the Arabs, refused to 
sell them food, and they soon grew ill and 
exhausted. Tramping through thorns on 
land, wading among sharp reeds and biting 
leeches in the swamps, their feet were cut 
and torn, and their wounds refused to heal. 
There was nothing to be done but to return 
to Kabambard: and this they did, reaching 
it so worn out and lamed, that they took 
three months to recover. 

Livingstone was on the point of setting 
out a third time for the Lualaba, when he 
heard that his new bearers from Zanzibar 
were on their way towards him. He waited 
for them a long while, in the hope of letters, 


A DEATHBLOW TO SLAVERY ioi 

medicines, and stores, but his time and his 
hope were wasted. On 4th February 1871, 
ten worthless slaves came up with only one 
letter. Dozens of Livingstone’s letters had 
been lost or destroyed, and their headman, 
Shereef, had stayed behind at Ujiji, spending 
all Livingstone’s stores. 

In less than a week the new bearers re- 
belled, and it took all Livingstone’s powers 
to make them go forward. But in the end 
patience and extra wages persuaded them 
to go on, and at last Livingstone reached 
Nyangwd, on the Lualaba, on 29th March 
1871. Here again the Arab slavers prevented 
him from getting canoes, so he could go no 
farther down the stream. But he heard 
that the Lualaba bore round so much to 
the westward, that he now thought it might 
prove to be the Congo. 

While Livingstone was thinking what 
next he should do, there happened before 
his eyes a thing so utterly cruel, that it 
swept all else from his mind. He was 
walking in the native market, on the river 


102 DAVID LIVINGSTONE 

bank at Nyangwd, watching the people ex- 
changing their wares. The natives from 
the other shore came over in canoes every 
day to join in the marketing, and that morn- 
ing about 1500 of them, mostly women, 
were present. 

As Livingstone was moving away to his 
hut, he noticed that many of the Arabs 
were about with their rifles; and presently 
he heard shots in the market behind him. 
Turning sharply round, he saw that the 
Arabs were firing into the middle of the 
helpless crowd, who fled shrieking to their 
canoes. These were all jammed together 
in a small creek, and the natives struggled 
and fell over each other in the effort to 
get them out. 

Then a large party of Arabs, concealed 
near the creek, shot into the huddled 
mass, and the slaughter became terrible. 
Hundreds plunged into the river, and 
struck out for the other bank, while the 
murderers fired at them in the water. 
Some of the canoes were launched, and 


A DEATHBLOW TO SLAVERY 103 

their crews escaped ; others were over- 
loaded and upset. Many of the swimmers 
were picked up by their friends, but a 
large number were overcome by the strong 
current and sank. In all, about three or 
four hundred perished. One Arab took 
a canoe, and picked up some of the sur- 
vivors, but the sight of Livingstone made 
him ashamed, and he gave them up to his 
care. Livingstone managed to save more 
than thirty, and he kept them safe till he 
was able to return them to their people. 
While the massacre was going on, the 
slaves from the Arab camp carried off all 
that had been left by the natives in the 
terror and tumult of their flight. 

Livingstone at once made up his mind to 
return to Ujiji, and to send a report of this 
wicked outrage to England. He felt sure 
that his countrymen would now come to 
the rescue of this unhappy land, and he 
was right. His report of the massacre on 
the Lualaba was the deathblow to slavery 
in Central Africa, for it roused the whole 


104 DAVID LIVINGSTONE 

English people. The British Government 
at once set to work, and, with the help of 
other nations, the slave trade was slowly 
but surely ended. 

The tramp to Ujiji was full of hardship 
and danger. Livingstone was very ill, and 
in pain every step of the way, but the love 
of his duty carried him on. The cowardly 
Arab slavers knew his intention ; and, though 
they dared not touch him themselves, they 
tried to persuade the tribes on his path to 
murder him. But most of the natives had 
now seen for themselves that Livingstone 
was not a slaver, and they answered that 
he was “ the good one,” and they would not 
kill him. Some of them, however, laid in 
ambush, and threw spears at him as he 
passed. He had several narrow escapes, 
and in one day a spear grazed his neck and 
another missed him by only a few inches. 

At last, after trudging more than 500 
miles in three months of daily suffering and 
risk, he crossed Tanganyika, and reached 
Ujiji at the end of October. He was worn 


A DEATHBLOW TO SLAVERY 105 

out and at death’s door, and now he found 
he was beggared. Shereef had made away 
with all his stores, and not an atom was left. 

In this terrible need a friend came to him 
as suddenly as though dropped from the 
clouds. One day his followers heard that 
a white man was coming into Ujiji, and 
they rushed at once to tell their master. 
Livingstone went out to meet the stranger, 
and found, to his surprise, that a young 
journalist, H. M. Stanley, was coming to 
his relief, with a large caravan of stores. 

Livingstone’s work against the slave trade 
had made him so much liked in America, 
that an American, J. Gordon Bennet, had 
sent Stanley to find the great explorer, 
whom everybody thought to be lost. 

This kind and generous act from another 
nation than his own, touched Livingstone 
very much, and he and Stanley became fast 
friends. Livingstone in return told all he 
knew about Africa, and Stanley was always 
grateful for this help when it became his 
turn to be a great explorer. 


CHAPTER X 


THE LAST JOURNEY 

TTS7HILE Livingstone and Stanley were 
together, they made a short journey 
to the north end of Tanganyika. They 
wanted to see if any river ran out of 
the lake towards the Nile ; they found 
that a river, the Rusizi, flowed into the 
lake instead. Had they now crossed the 
Rusizi, and gone northwards, they would 
probably have settled the question of the 
Nile in a few months. But Stanley had 
to return, and Livingstone went with 
him. 

Four months with Livingstone made 
Stanley as keen an explorer as his new 
friend. On their way back they talked 
much about the sources of the great rivers, 

106 


THE LAST JOURNEY 107 

and they both thought that the Lualaba 
might still run into the Nile. Had they 
only known it, Livingstone had already 
discovered enough to prove this quite im- 
possible. At Nyangwd he had measured the 
height of the Lualaba above the sea-level, 
and had sent the measurements to Eng- 
land. Other people had sent measure- 
ments of the Nile as far as its course was 
known. Geographers at once saw from 
these that the Lualaba could never reach 
the Nile without running uphill. The 
Royal Geographical Society at once wrote 
this to Livingstone, and told him the Lua- 
laba must be the Congo. But he never 
received the letter. 

Stanley now tried to persuade his com- 
panion to go with him to England, but in 
vain. Livingstone had promised his friends 
at home to find the sources of the Nile, 
and he would not give up his promise. 
However, he returned with Stanley as far 
as Unyanyembe ; for here he expected to 
find some stores from the British Govern- 


io8 DAVID LIVINGSTONE 

ment, who now also promised him a salary 
and a pension. 

On their arrival they found that, as usual, 
the stores had been plundered and sold. 
Then Stanley, like a true comrade, shared 
all his supplies and spare clothes with 
Livingstone; and he also promised to try 
and find him fifty honest bearers in Zan- 
zibar. On 14th March 1872 they parted 
in much sorrow, for they had grown to 
like each other greatly. 

Livingstone waited at Unyanyembd till 
the end of August, when fifty-seven new 
bearers, chosen by Stanley, came up with 
supplies from Zanzibar. They were honest 
and faithful men ; and, with them to help 
him, Livingstone started in good spirits 
for his last journey. He hoped to pass 
round the south of Lake Bangweolo, then 
westward of Lake Moero to the Lualaba ; 
and then he would try and reach the 
Nile. 

In six weeks they were at the south end 
of Tanganyika ; and before January 1873 


THE LAST JOURNEY 109 

they had crossed the valley of the Cham- 
bezd, a river which runs into Bangweolo. 
They then worked round the south of that 
lake ; but the rainy season broke early that 
year, and brought with it the usual floods 
and fever. 

Livingstone was sixty years old, and the 
toil and suffering of the last seven years 
now told upon him terribly. He again fell 
very ill, and daily grew weaker. His faithful 
bearers, who loved him like a father, did all 
they could to take care of him, and carried 
him through mile after mile of marsh 
and flood. If these fine fellows had been 
with him six years ago, his work would 
long have been done. At times he began 
to think that he would not finish his task. 
“I shall never be able to play,” he wrote 
to a friend who was resting after a life of 
hard work. 

Day after day, in the pitiless rain, they 
toiled over the swamp - land, splashed 
through the flood, and forded swollen 
streams, sometimes up to the neck, with 


no DAVID LIVINGSTONE 

their burdens on their heads. A stretch of 
hard ground was a rarity, while food grew 
scarcer and scarcer, and fever got worse 
and worse. The bearers made a kitanda , 
or stretcher slung on a pole, for they 
saw that their Bwana (their master) was 
no longer able to sit up. There was no 
proper food for a sick man — for milk, the 
one thing most needed, was not to be 
had. 

For four days Livingstone was too weak 
to write in his diary anything but the date. 
Then, on April 27th, he feebly scrawled, 
“ Knocked up quite, and remain . . . 

recover Sent to buy milch goats.” 

He still had pluck and hope of recovery, 
but his men had only grief. They scoured 
the country for miles around, but they 
could not get a single goat. 

They saw the end must now come, and 
they pushed onward to higher ground, 
reaching the village of a chief called 
Chitambo on April 29th. Here their 
quick and skilful hands in a few hours 


Ill 


THE LAST JOURNEY 

built him a hut, and they laid him, in 
great pain, on a bed made of boughs 
and dried grass, covered with blankets. 
Susi tended him all next day, and at 
nightfall Majwara kept watch outside his 
master’s door. In the dead of night Maj- 
wara came calling, “ Come to Bwana, Susi, 
I am afraid.” 

Susi and some others crept reverently 
into the hut ; and, by the flickering light 
of a candle, they saw the saviour of Cen- 
tral Africa dead on his knees at the bed- 
side, with his hands to his face on the 
pillow. 

It is a brave thing to die for one’s 
fellow-men ; it is also brave, and often far 
harder, to live for them. Livingstone did 
both. Indeed, the humble Blantyre mill- 
boy had done the noblest and highest 
thing that man can do; he had given his 
whole life to help God’s less happy creatures. 
And this he had done, not for money nor 
for fame, but out of love for God and 


man. 


H2 DAVID LIVINGSTONE 

In the grey dawn of May ist, his faith- 
ful followers clustered round the camp fire 
to take counsel. They talked of their be- 
loved Bwana, the master who never struck 
his bearers, and who nursed them like his 
own children when they fell sick. Had he 
not come from the far land of the great 
Queen, not to make slaves, like the Portu- 
guese, but to set men free? Yes, he was 
a great white chief, and he must go home 
to the tombs of his fathers : that was 
certain, and they would see to it, or die. 
He had given some of his wisdom to 
Susi and Chuma, and they would be head- 
men. 

Then Susi and Chuma made their plans. 
With reverent care they counted and 
packed all their master’s things, and 
carried his body to an open spot near 
the village. Here some of them built a 
new hut, open to the sun, and began to 
embalm the body ; while others made a 
stout wooden stockade around it. Outside 
all they built a circle of huts for them- 



They saw him dead on his knees 




THE LAST JOURNEY 113 

selves,- and, night and day, they kept watch 
till the embalming was done. 

They buried his heart beneath a large 
mvula-tree, and put up two posts and a 
cross - bar to mark the spot. A day of 
mourning was held, and all Chitambo’s 
people, as is their custom, came with bows 
and spears ; while the bearers fired volleys 
with their rifles. At last the body was 
wrapped, like a mummy, in bark and 
sailcloth, and lashed to a pole; and so 
the return journey was begun. 

No praise is too high for the pluck and 
hardihood of this little band of faithful 
men. Once more they faced all the old 
risks and hardships of floods, fever, and 
want of food. They crossed the Luapula, 
and made for the south end of Tangan- 
yika. Their great fear was about the 
ignorant fancies of the natives, who dislike 
a dead body passing through their villages. 
Often they had to pay toll, and once they 
were forced to fight. They came to a tribe 
of natives who had a large stockade, and 


1 14 DAVID LIVINGSTONE 

also two villages close at hand. The 
people in the stockade had been drinking 
palm-wine, and the son of their chief was 
drunk. The chief might have proved 
friendly, but his son refused to let the 
travellers pass. He quickly forced on a 
quarrel, and his men began to shoot 
arrows. 

Then Susi’s party cleared the stock- 
ade of natives, and put their precious 
burden in one of the huts inside. Then, 
rifles in hand, they stormed the two vil- 
lages, burning the huts and driving the 
people to their canoes. After this they lived 
on their spoil for a week in the stockade, 
till its owners came to make peace. 

When they reached Unyanyembd, they 
met an expedition sent from England to 
search for Livingstone ; and they learnt 
that another relief party had started up 
the Congo from the west coast. The 
officer at Unyanyembe wanted to bury the 
body at once. Susi and his men, however, 
stoutly refused to give up their purpose. 


THE LAST JOURNEY 115 

So the faithful band went on their work 
of love; and, after nine months on foot, 
reached the sea - coast at Bagamoyo, in 
February 1874. Here these black men 
of honour and ability handed over their 
master’s body to the British Consul. All 
his property, too, was there, down to the 
last button. 

Their task was done, and, with sad 
faces and heavy hearts, they were sent 
away. 

Livingstone’s body was carried to its 
grave in Westminster Abbey on 18th April 
1874, by Oswell, Kirk, Young, Stanley, and 
others of his old friends. But the work of 
his noble spirit was not ended. All men 
hastened to do him honour, and many now 
began to do his bidding. He had once 
said that, if he could only bring about the 
end of the slave trade, he would count it 
“a far greater feat than the discovery of 
all the sources together.” 

The dirge over his grave acted on his 
country like a bugle-call to Africa. Other 


n6 DAVID LIVINGSTONE 

brave men pressed forward to carry on the 
work that the unselfish Scotch peasant lad 
had begun; and now slavery in Africa is 
all but ended. Livingstone sawed through 
the first slave-stick in the Shird Valley : 
Gordon, Kitchener, Macdonald, and Win- 
gate broke up the last strongholds of 
slavery on the Nile. 

Livingstone just missed the Nile, but he 
found the source of the Congo, the third 
great river of the world. Stanley finished 
most of the pioneering that was left. 

There is now a good road past the 
Murchison Cataracts, while Lake Nyassa 
floats two British gunboats and a fleet of 
trading steamers. The Universities’ Mis- 
sion, too, have their own steamer on the 
lake ; and others missions also are hard 
at work on Livingstone’s plans. Lake 
Tanganyika is joined by a road to Nyassa, 
and will soon be reached by railway from 
the Victoria Falls. 

Besides this, the nations of Europe have 
divided Africa amongst themselves. We 


THE LAST JOURNEY 117 

English have taken the land of about 
thirty million blacks into our charge, and 
we are trying to govern them justly. 
Livingstone also wanted us to teach them 
how to make the best use of their lives ; 
and he proved that gentleness and justice 
could make noble men, like Susi and his 
faithful band. If we do this duty to the 
Africans, they will stand by us when we 
need them ; and children who want to 
have a British Empire in their old age 
will do well to think about this. 

There are black men still in Africa 
whose faces light up with joy at Living- 
stone’s name. They will answer and ask 
questions, in their quaint way, about the 
great man whom they called the Wise 
Heart and Healer of Men. “ Yes, we 
loved him, and we served him too. Was 
he not our Bwana, who never struck his 
bearers? Of course we sent him back to 
the great White Queen. Did she not send 
him to Africa, not to get ivory and gold 
and slaves, like the Arabs and Portu- 


n8 DAVID LIVINGSTONE 

guese, but to give a good message of 
wisdom, and to set men free? Have you 
many like him in your land? Ah, but his 
heart is still in Africa, under the mvula- 
tree at Chitambo’s.” 


THE END 


Printed by Ballantyne, Hanson & Co. 
Edinburgh & 1 London 







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